WHEN Jamie Fallon started Snakebite Boxing this year, it was with the idea of getting back into training and helping his family.
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He had no idea that it would not only fuel a new passion for the sport, but that his boxers would number so many, and that those fighters would do so well.
Now Fallon is hoping to build on that in 2017 and get more members of the Bathurst community involved in the sport. He feels the city has the potential to produce more champions.
SNAKEBITE BOXING’S SUCCESSFUL 2016
AS a boxer, Jamie ‘The Giant’ Fallon fought across the world and found good success before deciding to step away.
But after a six-year absence, he was lured back to boxing in 2016.
He formed Snakebite Boxing and what started out as a small operation quickly grew.
“The idea was to get back into training myself for boxing, but then that eventuated to training more people,” Fallon said.
“All my boxers this last year have put so much effort in, which I really appreciate. I have about four or five fighting and we’ve got about 50 juniors coming through.
“I didn’t realise it was going to be like this, I didn’t realise that I would be as motivated as this.”
Over the course of 12 months, Snakebite Boxing lost just one fight and that came at the Australian Amateur Boxing League titles in Cairns.
At that same event, Fallon’s daughter Kate (sub-junior girls 44.5-48 kilograms) and wife Anna Evans (heavy weight, cruiser weight) both won national titles.
“Winning those Aussie titles was such a big rush. We went up there as opportunists and amazingly the result we came back with – no-one would have predicted it in the whole boxing community,” Fallon said.
“It was a crazy couple of days, for Anna to come back a dual national champion was amazing.”
Another amazing moment for Snakebite came earlier in the year when Nathan Belbin made his debt.
Better known for being one of the best players in the Central West AFL competition, Belbin took just 35 seconds to win via knockout. He won his second bout as well.
“To get Nath through that first fight was tough, but the result just proved the amount of training that we go through and my bond with him,” Fallon said.
“So Anna is a dual national champion, my daughter is a national champion, Nath is undefeated in two fights and I’ve had another couple of boys pick up wins.
“Everything seems to be going good, the whole boxing community is amazed with how Snakebite is going, in Sydney especially, everyone is talking about Snakebite in Sydney.
“Guys that I idolised when I was growing up boxing are coming up to me and saying ‘Jamie, it’s great to see you back in the game’.
“We only lost one fight for the year and that was at the Australian titles. It was a great way to make a good impression to start.”
LIFTING BATHURST’S INVOLVEMENT
WITH a successful 2016 now behind him, Fallon is focused on further building this year.
He wants to “see more champions come out of Bathurst now”, and feels a number of local boxers have the potential to make a name for themselves.
“There are some really great boxers coming out of Bathurst, guys like Mitch Stevens – he’s got a potential future in the sport – and Dave Sellers. Both of them have got a future in the sport, especially in their weight divisions,” he said.
“Bathurst itself is producing good quality athletes.”
But success in the ring is not Fallon’s only goal. He is aiming to get the Bathurst community as a whole more involved and further educate people about boxing.
Well-attended fight nights at the Dudley Hotel, Showground and Paddy’s Hotel, plus the expansion of the Dreamtime Sports Academy – an outfit which supports Snakebite – over the last 12 months indicates Bathurst’s interest in boxing is growing.
But Fallon says: “Bathurst could probably get more behind boxing.”
“There are a lot of good kids involved in the sport in Bathurst and people don’t realise the amount of work they are putting in,” he said.
“Footy players might only train three times a week, but boxers are putting in a lot bigger effort. They are not only doing their boxing training, but they are doing swimming and running and weights and other things.
“It would be good to see people recognise that effort.”
Fallon also wishes to dispel the often held notion that boxing is a sport focused on violence and aggression.
He said that “boxing is actually a sport where you get very few injuries.”
“As much is boxing is a sport about hitting someone, it is about not getting hit as well,” Fallon said.
“People should realise that if it wasn’t a safe sport, then it wouldn’t be at the Olympics. Because it’s an Olympic sport there is also so much potential there – Bathurst has the potential to send kids to the Olympics.
“It’s a big opportunity, there is a pathway there to the Olympics.”
One thing which Fallon feels could further help that pathway is a review of age limits in NSW.
“The problem for juniors coming through in New South Wales is that the age limit is 14. In Queensland it is 10, in Victoria it’s 10, in the ACT it’s 10 and in Tasmania it’s 10,” he said.
“All the juniors in New South Wales can’t fight until they’re 14 unless they have got the money to travel to another state and that’s tough.
“It’s hard for the New South Wales kids. How many fights has a 14-year-old from Queensland had? Some of them have 22 fights by then.”