The 14-year-old from Christchurch Boys’ High School out fought a two-time national champion to claim his weight division at the Australian Golden Gloves in Brisbane recently and be crowned the best male fighter in his age group.
Brown, who is from the Woolston Boxing Club, returned home with the boys' cadet under 57kg open grade gold medal after ending Queenslander Chaise Courtney’s 15-bout unbeaten run via split decision.
"He had two really, really close rounds (in the Brisbane final) and then he pulled it together and he took the last round clean,” said coach Holly Sullivan.
Brown, who is targeting the 2026 Summer Youth Olympics in Dakar, Senegal, swayed the judges with his superior speed, fitness and technique.
"He started fighting at 32kg or something silly,” Sullivan said, expanding on the long-term goal.
"The Youth Olympics is the pathway and the goal we’re trying to put him towards.
"We want to keep pushing at New Zealand Boxing saying: ‘This kid is keen’."
Brown has a 13-win, 7-loss record and is set to graduate from cadet to junior class next year.
He would then spend two years as a junior before fighting as a youth.
"His losses have all been against juniors or heavier opponents, generally, he’s been stepping up a lot,” Sullivan said.
Brown is now preparing to represent Canterbury at the New Zealand amateur national championships in Whanganui in October.
Meanwhile, world youth championships-bound boxer Hamuera Tainui was one of Woolston’s six silver medal recipients after a controversial end to his bout with Matthew Lyons.
The Australian claimed a split decision although Sullivan tried to get the 67kg youth final replayed the following day after arguing the bout was shorter than expected.
"It was meant to be three three-minute rounds but they only fought two minutes,” Sullivan said.
"I complained mid-fight and got it resolved afterwards that they could fight again on the Sunday.
"Hamz got to the weigh-in but his opponent refused to fight. His coach wanted to take what happened as it."
Tainui, a multiple New Zealand Golden Gloves winner, is bound for Europe where he will compete at Serbia’s Youth Golden Gloves.
"It’s the first time he’ll be exposed to European fighters and getting himself in a place where he can be exposed to the level of boxing he’s going to come up against at the worlds,” Sullivan said.
Tainui, 17, will return to New Zealand for the nationals in Whanganui and then heads back to Europe for the World Youth Boxing Championships in La Nucia, Spain, in November.
Sullivan said $40,000 had been raised to fund Tainui’s Australian, Serbian and Spanish experience, about $10,000 short of the goal.
“We’ve got a couple of avenues we’re still pushing towards,” Sullivan said.
“We’ll just keep asking people for help.”
- Woolston Boxing Club medalists at the Australian Golden Gloves: Gold: Bobby Brown, cadet under 57kg. Silver: Thomas Sutherland, cadet 52kg & 52A kg; Ryley Sutherland, junior 63kg; Hamuera Tainui youth 63kg; Neve Enright, youth 70A kg; Chrissy Gillespie, elite 54kg; Beulah Paris, elite 63kg. Bronze: Edward Richards, junior 60kg; Lennox Taukiri-Jarden, youth 67A kg.
