Over the Christmas period, the Journal’s sports team will be re-sharing some of the most popular stories from over the course of 2023.
Thank you for supporting our newspapers over the course of the year. We hope you enjoy the selection and have a wonderful holiday period, however you choose to celebrate.
When Riek Chuol began boxing 12 months ago, his coach at Doveton Boxing Club Ryan Wilson said he “didn’t even know if he was left or right handed”, or what a ‘jab’ was.
Fast-forward 12 months and the Doveton Boxing Club can lay claim to one of the best boxers in the country as the rapid ascension of the Pakenham 17-year-old continues.
Chuol won the Under 57kg Youth Division National Championship at the 2023 Australian School’s Boxing Championships in Adelaide on Sunday 8 July, defeating Queenslander Cohen Robinson on a unanimous points decision over three rounds.
After receiving a bye in the competition’s first round, his first fight of the tournament came in the semi final stages where he dominated his Western Australian opponent Shareef Mohammad, with the referee forced to stop the fight early in the first round.
In the final against an experienced competitor, with recent international competitions under his belt, Chuol delivered one of his best performances.
“He dominated the bout from start to finish against a really good kid too, a Queenslander who was selected to represent Australia just recently,” Wilson said.
“Straight away when he started landing heavy shots on this kid and snapping his head back, I thought, ‘he’s got this’.
“He won every round pretty clearly.
“He had the kid hurt several times.”
Chuol said the feeling of being crowned a national champion was “amazing”, and took immense pride in the manner of the victory.
“All the hard work I put into it, it just feels really good to be a national champion,” he said.
“Knowing that you shut your opponent out all three rounds and having the judges think you won can, in a way better, sometimes feel better than a knockout.
“It’s good to shut-out your opponent and win in that way, because it showcases your skill.
“I was really excited that I won that way.”
With family and friends watching the fights from afar on the live stream, Wilson was forced to calm his star-pupil down during the early stages of the contest, full of excitement and pent-up energy in one of the biggest contests of his boxing journey to date.
“At the end of the first he did cop a good shot, which they gave him a standing eight-count,” Wilson said.
“This kid has come from nothing 12 months ago, to now be fighting on live TV, it was really hard to control him.
“We settled him down and he boxed the kid’s ears off for the remainder of the fight.
“He’s beating these kids by quite a fair amount and we’re talking about kids who have been boxing for 6-10 years, so they’re at their peak.
“This kid is not even close to it.”
For Chuol, the victory adds fuel to fire as to what he’s capable of.
“It’s opened my eyes to say ‘I can really do well in this sport,’ and I’m only getting better from now on,” he said.
“12 months ago I had my first fight and now I’m a national champion.
“It’s telling me that I can really do good at the sport and continue.
“I feel like I can only get better from now on.”
