WA, Kiwis slug it out for draw
WA were forced to settle for a 4-4 draw in the inaugural Adidas Cup amateur boxing competition against New Zealand yesterday after super-heavyweight Shanan Hepi produced a final-round rally to rescue the Kiwis.
Hepi was trailing AdamIan Fischer-Rasmussen 5-4 going into the third round at the Italian Club in Northbridge after earlier being deducted a point for holding. But he came good to win the 91+kg dust-up 7-5 and level an entertaining contest.
The Kiwis sent a team boasting five current or former national champions yet there was never more than one bout in it on a card reduced to eight fights after the clash at 57kg fell through.
Ross Weaver (75kg) was arguably the star for the home side after he delivered a disciplined nine minutes to see off two-time NZ champion and world No. 26 Nathan McEwan 7-4 in a battle of southpaws. A muscular Patrick Eneanya made light work of Yamico Chihula's reach advantage to overpower the Kiwi 16-6 at 91kg.
Brett Mather (60kg) also shone for WA as he beat Nort Beauchamp 16-10, while Luke McLeod got the better of Todd Commons the longer their 64kg bout went to win 16-3.
But the New Zealanders had their heroes as well, most notably Hepi and at 81kg, where Reece Papuni proved too good for the taller Brendan Scally, who was squeezed out 12-10.
The visitors also won the two women's fights, with the impressive Dawn Chambers taking the opening bout 14-10 against home favourite Jesse Bouquet at 64kg and Tegan Madden ousting Erin Nota 3-2 at 60kg.
Adidas representative Chris Moar, one of the main players behind getting the event off the ground, hailed the event as a success.
"We've been keen to get something like this off the ground for about two years and we spoke to (Boxing WA's) Geoff Peterson and Zac Arslanoski, who had similar ideas," he said.
Moar said he hoped the contest would now be picked up by Boxing Australia and become a fully international competition on its annual calendar, with the likes of England and Ireland sending teams to participate.
Peterson agreed, saying the afternoon gave them something to build on.
"This is the beginning. We'll see what went well and what we can improve on. But a 4-4 draw shows how well matched it was and the performance of Ross Weaver in particular was outstanding."
