Dannevirke slugger Connor Anderson wins North Island Golden Gloves

Connor in the blue singlet in action.

Connor Anderson and Team BAMS Boxing Club travelled to the annual North Island Golden Gloves tournament on Queen's Birthday Weekend, June 5. Training leading up to this event had been going well as we had only just come straight off another training camp for the previous Manawatu bout.

We pushed Connor's training and running up a level for this big event to step up the stamina and endurance.

Connor with Mark and Adam Jones after the fight.

We found out during the week that he had been drawn the same boy from Taumarunui - the two-time new Zealand champ he had beaten three weeks earlier. We worked on some things in training to stay sharp and ready because we knew this boy would be out for revenge on Connor.

Tony Mansill and Geoff Rothwell helped out at training and his sparring partners, with Anson Rothwell putting in a lot of rounds to get Connor ready.

With Tony unavailable to go to Taupo, Mark Jones helped out in doing the corner work in the fight.

The first round was close, it was a full-on busy round being quite hard to pick.

In the second round Connor stepped it up a notch landing the cleaner shots, mixing it up to the body and wearing his opponent down. Connor with the faster hands and footwork took the second round.

The third and final round was similar to the second with Connor dominating the round, with the bit more fitness taking it right to the final bell, still dancing around on his toes throwing some nice crisp punches.

This took it to a unanimous points decision to Connor in the blue corner to bring home the North Island Golden Gloves title, and well deserved because Connor is putting a lot of time and effort into his chosen sport of boxing.

To top the weekend off, out of 100 boxers, he was awarded the most scientific junior boxer, a huge award to go with the title!

We are all proud of his efforts and achievements for him and the club. Our next trip booked is the even-bigger NZ Golden Gloves Champs on July 2-4 in Christchurch to take on the South Island No.1.

A dolphin created by Tony Mansill was auctioned on Friday evening, June 18, at the Dannevirke Services and Citizens Club, to help get Connor to the South Island fight - the winner, Marilyn Hall, paying $810, which added to other local generosity raising $1000.