Hawke's Bay's Shirahn Lee Esmail is declared the winner of the 60kg lightweight division. Photo / Duncan Brown Photography
Hawke's Bay's Shirahn Lee Esmail is declared the winner of the 60kg lightweight division. Photo / Duncan Brown Photography
Ruahapia Boxing Club's Shirahn Lee Esmail was Hawke's Bay's sole title winner at the national championships which ended in Hastings on Saturday night.
Lee Esmail thrilled his army of supporters when he won the 60kg lightweight title, defeating 2017 bantamweight champion Rendz Remaneses of Canterbury by a 4-1 points decision.Lee Esmail was presented with one of the oldest national trophies at prize-giving, the Parisian Cup, which was first presented to the winner of the lightweight title in 1933.
Aucklander Jerome Pampellone re-stamped his credentials as the best performed New Zealand amateur boxer this season, when he retained his light heavyweight title and won the prestigious Jameson Belt, at the 114th edition of the nationals which ran for four days at the Hastings Sports Centre. Fresh off finishing in the top eight at the AIBA Men's World Championships in Russia, Pampellone, gave a master-class in boxing, defeating a game Trevor Swainson of Canterbury 5-0.
The third successive flyweight final between reigning champion Ryan Entese of Canterbury and Ivan Pavich of Waikato was another exciting contest that went right down to the wire again. Entese had won the last two title deciders by way of a paper-thin split majority, however, Pavich reversed those results with a 3-2 victory.
Wellington/Hutt Valley middleweight Ryan Scaife won his fourth successive national crown defeating Emile Richardson 5-0. Aucklanders Fineasi Tuipuloto and Dominic Roe, South Auckland's Nic Grantham and Canterbury's Uila Mau'u, will forever remember the Hastings nationals after winning their first senior championships titles.
Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Tasmyn Benny of South Auckland won the Bobby Johnson Cup, awarded to the most scientific women's boxer, after she beat Roi Ransfield of the Shamrock Club in Auckland 4-0 in an absorbing contest in the women's 51kg final. Fellow Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Troy Garton of the Shamrock Club, also won the major prize against Aucklander Erin Walsh, earning a unanimous victory in the 57kg division.
There was back to back success for the two Bay of Plenty women's boxers on finals night. Michele Nuku got past Alina Peach of Auckland 4-1 in the 60kg grade, with Ariana Nicholson posting her 12th straight victory this year when she defeated Mel McGlynn of Canterbury by a unanimous decision in the 69kg title decider.
Aucklander Cara Whareau won her third successive 64kg crown defeating Cantabrian Bree Cumming 5-0, while Cantabrian Elonoa Lilo was awarded a paper-thin 3-2 victory against Aucklander Stephanie Trotter in the 81kg weight class.
