Highland Boxing Academy head coach Liam Foy has high hopes of a big medal haul from Lonsdale International Box Cup in Glasgow
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Highland Boxing Academy will take 10 athletes down to the Lonsdale International Box Cup, being held at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow for the first time, this weekend.
The Inverness club have a strong record at such tournaments, winning medals more often than not and laying claim to more than their fair share of champions.
This crop of boxers is one of the biggest groups HBA have ever entered, and features title winners from this season and years gone by.
Expectations, then, could be high for the 2022 class, and club head coach Liam Foy believes they are all capable of becoming champions this weekend.
“On their day, all of them can win,” Foy insisted of HBA’s squad.
“A good return would probably be if half of them came back as champions. I would be delighted with that.
“Really, I want them all to come back as winners, but you need a lot more than boxing – you need luck and other things to go in your favour.
“Looking at them all individually, the likes of Joe Kinsella and Joshua Morrison have extremely busy and tough, highly competitive categories.
“There’s no reason why they can’t go on and win.
“But it’s going to take a lot to do it. They will have to be on form every day, they will have to box three times.
“Some of the boxers are in straight finals already as it stands, some of them could potentially be in straight finals depending on the draws.
“A lot is still to be worked out and decided in regards to draws, but I’ve got a squad of hungry boxers that will have one thing on their mind, and that’s to come back as a champion.”
As with any Lonsdale Box Cup, there are other incentives on top of being called champion at stake too.
“If they box all three days and win, they can take a belt home,” Foy explained.
“Also, if they beat a returning champion at any stage, they can take a belt home.
“They will still be crowned champions if they win their division and don’t do either of those things, but that’s the way you can not only be a champion but take one of the belts.
“They don’t just hand out belts to all the winners of the various categories – you’ve either got to beat a returning champion or win at every stage. They are all going in looking really strong, so I’m hoping for a good return.”
