Australian Boxing Championships 2016 held in Gold Coast from the 19th to 22nd of November displayed the best boxers from Australia representing their state in both female and male divisions fighting for the top spot.
The schedule was pulled back from the 2016 to 2015 due to Olympic Games next year and the National Championships were a part of selection pathway for this most important event in sport.
Prestige Gym was represented at the Nationals by our boxer Luke Gersbeck who got his place in as a part of the Victorian Boxing Team which he earned through four tough rounds of qualifications earlier during the second half of the year.
Being an underdog with probably the least experience in one of the toughest weight divisions with the highest number of entries out of all divisions, Luke showed a remarkable performance from the first bout.
Well timed preparations and experience gained at the State level helped Luke to put an experienced boxer from SA, who he met at the first round of eliminations, out of the competition winning his first bout at the Championships and moved him to the next round of eliminations without wearing any damage.
The next day in the quarterfinals Luke met one of the top contenders in the 69kg division. A completely fresh ACT representative with over the double the Luke’s experience did not manage to gain much grip and get effective with scoring throughout most of the time of the fight as Luke’s pressure and set strikes made him stay predominantly defensive on the back foot. Unfortunately, due to referee’s persistence with debatable warnings for low head during attacks where Luke most of the time got pulled by his opponent, which eventually led to point deductions, made an ACT representative pull out a win out of just few exchanges in which he came out marginally dominant.
Regardless of what we believe has been just referees non deliberate mistake we are very happy that Luke has proved his spot at the Nationals and put two great fights against some of the top Australian boxers.
This experience will just enhance Luke’s ability to perform better in the time ahead and prepare him for big competitions in the future.
Good job and massive congratulations to Luke on coping well with all the hard work during the year, we are very proud of you!!!