When she took up the sport she was not into exercise, and thought boxing would be ‘‘simple and easy’’.
But on discovering the training involved she quickly changed her mind.
Bo-Dean stuck with it, however, becoming a fit, trim, successful athlete.
Now the accomplished boxer, who fought for six years with the Leithfield Boxing Club gaining a lot of success, is giving North Canterbury youths a chance to follow in her footsteps.
‘‘I really, really love boxing. For a long time it was my life. ‘‘I am now enjoying seeing what kids get out of it, and how they grow,’’ she says.
When Bo-Dean finished fighting she went on to spend five years studying sport and exercise.
But the thirst for boxing remained. Last year when the Leithfield Boxing Club dissolved, Bo-Dean was presented with the ideal opportunity to start her own club.
‘‘I’ve always wanted to build my own club — a place where I can foster a sense of belonging and a family-like environment,’’ she says.
Through hard work and perseverance, the Hurunui Boxing Club was born. Based in Amberley in the old Scout Den, which her former boxing club called home, Bo-Dean is training a family of boxers.
She has five registered boxers — Jamie Johnson 17, Ted Johnson 14, Toby Kirkus 13, Hayley Channings 13, Shakaiyah Gorrie-Cashel 12.
‘‘Each one of these kids has had incredible success.
‘‘All together they have had 10 fights, coming away with some titles, such as the South Island Golden Gloves.’’
Bo-Dean says it is difficult to find fights for her two registered girls, as there are not many girls in the sports.
‘‘These girls are incredibly talented fighters, but is hard to showcase their talents in this sport, especially in their weight category.
‘‘We are a new club, and we are the new ones to watch.
A huge turning point for the club recently was having local Hurunui boy, Toby Kirkus, fight an incredibly hard fight for the Jack Grant Belt.
He is now known as one to watch as an up-and-coming prospect.
It is the first time a fighter from Hurunui has won the belt which stays within the Canterbury Association Clubs.
‘‘We must put it up at every Canterbury Club tournament. ‘‘We must choose a different person within our club to fight to keep it within our club,’’ says Bo-Dean.
‘‘Shakaiyah Gorrie-Cashel will be defending the belt on July 13 to hopefully keep the belt in the club.’’
Training is held two nights a week, with a third added as competition time nears.
‘‘We train incredibly hard for every bout, often training those athletes who have upcoming matches with one one-on-one sessions.’’
Bo-Dean is slowly enlisting some help in her endeavours, with a rugby coach and a few keen parents lending a hand.
‘‘More help would be great. I would love new people to come along and see what it’s about,’’ she says.
But her biggest worry is finding the funds to ‘‘keep the lights on’’ at the club, and getting some funds together to replace the gloves and equipment donated to it by the Leithfield Club when it was dissolved, much of which has been in use since 2014.
Bo-Dean says despite being a not-for-profit club, it has to pay $5 a day in daily power charges, plus what it uses on top of that.
The bill is around $2500 a year.
She says some participants pay fees which is awesome, but if they can’t ‘‘that is okay too.’’
‘‘We have run a couple of fundraisers and I am searching for grants at present to upgrade the gloves and gear.’’
