Benalla boxer Joel Eastwood has added another belt to the growing collection at LG Boxing after he secured the Regional Masters welterweight title in December.
Eastwood fought in the 71kg weight class at the South Eastern Entertainment Centre at Ferntree Gully, and is one of a handful of fighters who train under Benny Wapling at Benalla academy LG Boxing.
Wapling said Eastwood had only taken up the sport a few years ago with the aim of improving his fitness, but had found a competitive edge after training through the pandemic and overcoming a knee injury.
“All the boys have been training since before COVID, Joel hurt his knee pretty badly right before he was going to start making his debut fights, and then COVID hit,” Wapling said.
“They were sort of coming down and doing it more for fitness and got into it that way, I asked him and a few others if they were keen to start fighting and they have been training hard ever since.”
Eastwood looked right at home in the ring during the Regional Masters decider, Wapling said, and came away with a dominant win against a bigger opponent.
“We’ve had a few fighters going down there (to the Regional Masters) for a while and Joel got the opportunity,” Wapling said.
“He fought well, he worked hard with myself and a few others for the opportunity, the bloke he came up against was taller, he had a lot bigger reach and he looked bigger.
“Over four two-minute rounds, we felt he won each round convincingly but his fitness really kicked in in the last round and he really dominated which sealed it.”
Eastwood’s triumph rounds out a remarkable year for those at LG Boxing.
In March, 23-year-old Tom Newton finished as the runner-up at the Australian Team’s National Selection Tournaments, then, in December, Paul Christie became Super Middleweight champion after winning the Australian Amateur Boxing Championships.
Wapling said a significant amount of training and hard work was put in last year, which culminated in a very successful year of boxing.
“A lot of people don’t realise what some of these boys sacrifice to keep their weight and maintain their fitness,” he said.
“It’s some of the hardest fitness you’ll do, you’re working as hard outside the ring as in the ring, and there you’re copping punches and giving punches.
"Some may never get the opportunity (to fight competitively), we’ve been lucky enough to win three in 2022, we’ve aimed to get out there a little bit more to compete which has been good.“
Wapling said his fighters would train up for several fights to kick-start 2023, with events in Wodonga, Cobram and the next Masters in Melbourne all pencilled in for the not-too-distant future.