New Golden Gloves Open Heavyweight Champion A Talent To Watch

Tauranga-based amateur open heavyweight boxer James ‘Jock’ Emerson scored a first round knock out victory in the North Island verses South Island Golden Gloves championship fight in Palmerston North last weekend.

Trainer Hemi Niha of TKO Boxing says Emerson landed a great body shot in the first round that South Island Golden Gloves Champion Carl de Boom couldn’t recover from.

“We had talked about how we wanted this fight to go and we agreed that he would not go after the knock out but the opportunity presented itself and to his credit he took the shot. It was not a hard punch but it was perfectly timed and that is what makes this young guy such a talent.”

Niha says Emerson has a great future in front of him and his is a name New Zealanders will hear more of.

“He is a tough fighter, a smart boxer and most of all he trains with the commitment of a champion.”

He says after a tough fight all Emerson wants to do is train even harder. He will be back in the gym the next day going 12 rounds in training.

“He wants to be a champion and he knows the way to get there is to train hard. He trains every day, doesn’t take a day off and whenever he trains he trains until he nothing more in the tank. He knows how to train hard.”

Emerson is now the contender for the national heavyweight amateur title. He is in the Elite Male boxer group with Boxing New Zealand.

Niha says Emerson has the game sorted so they are now working on the little things that will refine his ability. The future for Emerson is about building experience through representing New Zealand in trans-Tasman fights.

Emerson is originally from Glasgow but has been in New Zealand since he was a teenager.