The crowd watches on as Koit Bosen fights Jonah Hastie-Hooley.
WEIPA has found a new event to add to the annual calendar after the roaring success of the inaugural Weipa Fight Night on Saturday.
Almost 1000 people filled the Storm Surge Shelter to witness 16 amateur fights between a mixture of local and visiting boxers, who all walked away impressed.
Wayne Brydie, who refereed all 16 bouts, said he was blown away by the standard of the local boxers and the atmosphere generated by the Weipa crowd.
“This is unbelievable for a first-time out. The professionalism of the night has been first class,” the vice president of Sunstate Amateur Boxing League said.
“We’ve got the Golden Gloves coming up in a couple of weeks and I’d be disappointed if we didn’t see some of these Weipa kids there because they can box.”
Brydie, who made the trip to Weipa from Mareeba, praised Cape York Boxing Club’s Scott Wallace for putting on the show.
“It’s only going to grow from what I have seen,” he said.
“This was a perfect arena and the crowd got right into it and supported the fighters all night.”
Clubmates Billy Reynolds and Xander Wone put on a top exhibition fight.
The ref said the final fight of the night – between Weipa’s Dominic Querubian and Townsville’s Asuela Aniba – was the highlight of the program.
“That was a great spectacle of two guys going for it with great technique,” Brydie said of the fight which went for three, two-minute rounds.
“I also thought the one before it (between Xander Wone and Billy Reynolds) was very good. That little fella (Xander) is tough and moves really well.”
There were more than enough highlights on the card, with Jack Barton opening proceedings against his much older clubmate Mike Carter.
The more experienced Carter showed his class, while Barton was able to hone his defence as he prepares for fights in his own class.
Youngsters Jed Hall and Jackson Reynolds had plenty of support in the crowd, while Napranum lads Troy Hudson and Jet Savo were rewarded for their hard work with a great three-round bout.
The biggest applause may have gone to showman Koit Bosen, who put on a deadly performance against Mareeba’s Jonah Hastie-Hooley.
Dominic Querubian lands a big blow.
After he was awarded the points decision by the judges, Bosen did a backflip in the ring, much to the joy of the crowd.
Billy Reynolds was the only one to have a fight stopped early after he copped a bloody nose in his first of two fights on the night.
Medical staff were ringside all night and reported no major injuries to any of the fighters.
“There was the bloody nose and we had one concussion,” a representative said.
“The referee controlled things well and it was a safe environment for the fighters.”
Hear from Cape York Boxing Club’s Scott Wallace in next week’s Cape York Weekly.
