Brett Sykes - National Golden Gloves
After winning the national golden gloves title in 2007 (which made me number 1 in the country for my age and weight) I was selected to participate in the elite Derbyshire and England recognition squad.
The national golden gloves, an open class boxing tournament for boxers age 13 – 16 at all weights and parts of the country. Over the 5 weeks I boxed people from Liverpool, Newcastle, London and Leicester.
In the midlands final I boxed Luke Wortley of Shepshed ABC (amateur boxing club) and beat him on a convincing unanimous decision. In the quarter finals I boxed Kieran Jones from Liverpool, tricky but I did enough and won the bout comfortably. In the semi finals I boxed 6ft2 Michael Coxon from Newcastle which was tricky to say I’m only 5ft3, but I controlled and took the decision 6 – 0. The grand finale, I boxed reigning national champion Danny Paintin of Bexley ABC London. I was losing the fight up until the last round where I took it him, pulling back a score of 4-1 to 7-7. This went on a count back, the number of shots thrown in the fight, which was also a draw 21-21. So it came down to the to decide who they thought was the stronger, quicker boxer, and I was awarded the fight 3 – 2 and was crowned golden gloves champion.
Being picked for the England recognition squad has left me open to hopefully box for and represent my country in the very near future. All of this can hopefully make a big step to my goal of being a professional boxer and fulfilling my dream of being world champion.