Bay fighter favourite after new title win

In one corner is New Zealand and in the other Tonga - and David Aloua-Rogers has the attention of both.
The Tauranga 22-year-old became the first Bay of Plenty senior fighter to win the New Zealand Amateur Boxing heavyweight title when Central North Island's Joel Marsters retired during the second round on Saturday night at Rotorua's Energy Events Centre.
Ahead 6-1 after the opening round, Aloua-Rogers was starting to rain blows down on the Rotorua fighter when Masters' trainer Darrin Nicol ended the bout in round two by throwing in the towel.
The decision gave Aloua-Rogers - who ended the run of Canterbury's two-time defending champion Yamiko Chinula in the semifinal - his first heavyweight title four years after he made his first final. The division win also makes him a likely contender for New Zealand's Oceania and Commonwealth Games boxing teams in 2010.
However, who he fights for is not set in concrete, with Aloua-Rogers eligible to represent either New Zealand or Tonga. The decision will ultimately be made by various selectors, but the powerful puncher is aiming to do all he can to get to India and go after a Commonwealth medal.
"I'll need to keep my top [NZ] ranking. I'll fight whoever to do it," Aloua-Rogers said, as his New Zealand Championship medal was being engraved on Saturday night.
"I've been working hard for this and it's good to put it all together. The plan was to come here and win the gold. I want to go to the Commonwealth Games, [for] either [country] - we'll just see what happens."
Aloua-Rogers is well known to the Tongan camp with their Auckland-based national coach Lolo Heimulu offering encouragement and prayers alongside the Chris Walker-trained fighter before action at last week's 107th New Zealand Championships.
Walker has trained Aloua-Rogers since he moved from Auckland prior to 2006 and believes his fighter has the talent to do well internationally, provided he sticks to the programme.
The pair had a falling out recently, which saw Walker, who runs the Tga Box Gym, withdraw his input. The issues were resolved about a month ago and Aloua-Rogers, who admitted he "wanted to do my own things", said their relationship has been restored. "We've settled our differences and it helped us to adjust. Our relationship is now probably better than it ever was," Aloua-Rogers said.
 
Aloua-Rogers never went three rounds in his three contests as he took out CNI's James Emmerson by injury on the opening day and forced opposition trainers to throw in the towel in during both the semi and final.
Walker had further success with former New Zealand representative Kelly Woolrich winning her sixth national title. She beat Waikato's Eske Dost in the elite female 60kg lightweight title 28-12.
Meanwhile, The welterweight clash between Wellington's defending champion Leti Emelioleti and Auckland's Kahukura Bentson was a classic.
Emelioleti won the contest 23-20 but Bentson won the crowd, taking many hits and boxing off either hand, delivering combinations of his own as the former Samoan representative tired.
The middleweight produced a new champion with Central Auckland boxer Isaac Peach winning over Canterbury's defending champion Nathan McEwen 16-11 in a messy fight.
The red and blacks had better luck in the light heavyweight contest where Reece Papuni won his first title by beating Auckland's John Leighton 14-9.

* Full results, P13. More pictures, P8.