Strong preparation pays dividends for Hinterland Boxing Club
HINTERLAND Boxing Club’s Dana ‘Deadly’ Coolwell has taken a giant step towards a world title with a dominant TKO stoppage in Mooloolaba on the weekend.
Coolwell joined Liam Pope in the winners ranks, after Pope came back strongly from a tough opening to secure a fourth round TKO.
Dana’s main event victory over Angelo Beltran finally earned the Hinterland Boxing Club professional the WBA Oceania Featherweight title.
He was due to fight for the title in July before his opponent withdrew a week out from the bout.
Speaking to GC&M News, Coolwell said it was a great result after an intense preparation.
“To secure the win I just listened to my corner, worked off my jab and broke my opponent down,” he said.
“To get the job done, I had to stay smart and two steps ahead of my opponent, working off my jab and countering every time I made him miss.
“He challenged me a fair bit actually.
“He had very heavy hands and was dangerous all the way to the end.”
Pope also finished off his opponent with a TKO.
Facing off against Jack Tresidder, Pope secured the Australasian Super Bantamweight title in the fourth round.
“He had a bit of a tough fight, his opponent hurt Liam in the second round with a few good body shots, so you could see Liam was winded but he couldn’t finish him though,” Coach Pitt said.
“Liam came back, and threw back hard and I think at the end of the third round he caught him with a good overhand right and slowed him, then he put the foot down in the fourth round and the ref stopped it.”
Pitt said the results paved the way for some big fights. “Liam and Dana’s next fight will be December, one more fight before the end of the year, it’s hard to find opponents for Liam now because he’s dangerous, he’s 7-1 now, he’s rolling along quite well,” he said.
“The tedious part of his career is finished now that he’s in the world ranks, this is now where we identify who we want to challenge next and pick them off one by one.
“It’s taken us 10 years to get here and we are so close to his goal at a world title which will be next year.”
HBC professional Joel Walsh did not fare as well, losing his second professional bout.
“He had a four rounder which didn’t go to plan. He went real well in the first round and kind of burnt himself out a little bit and then the tide turned and the other guy came back on top with a few good body shots,” Pitt said.
“The ref stopped it after two rounds so it wasn’t a good outcome but big ups to Joel it was his second professional fight so it was always going to be a struggle to get to that place and that level.”
Steve said he was extremely proud of all his boys, and how great it was to have a local atmosphere throughout the fight card. “It was a relief that they won, we put a lot of preparation in and when you get to the pointy end of that you get to the fight; and that’s what you want to win the most,” he said.
“Both boys did me really proud.”