Boxing: Hawke's Bay teen 52kg champion at Rotorua nationals

Hawke's Bay boxer Sam Nicol with mum Andrea Nicol who watched her son fight in memory of his grandmother, the late Shayne Nicol, of Palmerston North. Photo/File

That Sam Nicol has national-class pedigree written all over him is something many in the boxing circles will wholeheartedly endorse.

So it comes as little surprise that Nicol was crowned the 52kg New Zealand junior champion in Rotorua late on Thursday - his second title after he won the 47kg class unopposed last year.

But this time it was extra special for the 16-year-old from the Giants Boxing Academy in Hastings to receive his medal and certificate.

Nicol dedicated the title to his maternal grandmother, the late Shayne Nicol, who died in April this year.

"I was always close to her and she, like, followed my boxing and all that," said the teenager from Napier who had rolled a hanky of his grandmother's into one of his socks. His mother, Andrea, also watched him ringside.

She is the wife of Malcolm Nicol, of Palmerston North Boxing Club, who has been involved with the code all his life and honed Sam Nicol's skills until two years ago.

"It means so much to Sam that he had one of her handkerchiefs tucked into his boxing boot," said Giants academy owner/trainer Craig McDougall as the win left an emotional Malcolm Nicol overwhelmed after the victory.

"It's pretty special because the hard work has paid off for the family with the special moment," said McDougall, disclosing Malcolm Nicol had brought his contingent of boxers to the nationals as well.

The Year 11 pupil at Napier Boys' High School won by unanimous decision over Saxon Ferris, of Nelson, after connecting straight shots to glean clean points in the 3 x 3-minute round bout.

"I'm quite happy doing just one big fight after having several fights leading up to the big one," said Nicol who lost only one fight this year. "He was ducking and weaving and I was just catching him."

McDougall said Nicol came out all guns blazing in the first 30 seconds against Ferris but he advised his pugilist to back off before his protege exposed his prowess.

"He [Ferris] wasn't as experienced as Sam so the fight went as expected and Sam did a professional job in fighting clever in a wonderful display of boxing," McDougall said, revealing Ferris' lack of ring time didn't become apparent until they were a few seconds into the bout.

The trainer saluted his fighter, saying he was adept at listening and responding accordingly.

It is maiden national bragging rights for the academy because Nicol's last title didn't occurin the ring although McDougall also emphasised the significance of Saili Fiso, who lost in the semifinal to Sunny Teki-Clarke, of Christchurch, as their first open-grade boxer.

"You have to take someone to a point where you're happy to pit them against the country's best in their division," he said. "They have to be of a certain level because you don't just throw them in."

McDougall said unfortunately it was obvious at the nationals that some boxers hadn't reached that standard only to have top seeds hammer them, raising the question whether they should have been there at all.

"You can lose 50-nil or a 100-nil in rugby but in boxing when the differential is that big it looks pretty ugly."

With Nicol in his last year in the juniors, McDougall plans to groom the youngster as a youth athlete.

"So we're going to look at getting his strength up where he'll look at spending time in the gym for the new season in the new year," he said, although there will be boxing tourneys leading up to Christmas.