Commonwealth Games: Shot in the arm for boxing

David Light (blue) takes on Stephen Lavelle. Photo / Greg Bowker

There was reason to be cheerful for John McKay as New Zealand's director of boxing watched David Nyika and David Light end the medal droughts of Melbourne and Delhi with a double hit in Glasgow.

Not since Manchester in 2002 had New Zealand's boxers finished on the podium at the Commonwealth Games, but Nyika and Light guaranteed themselves at least silver after qualifying for this morning's finals.

The Olympic Games will provide the ultimate test for the Kiwis but McKay believes his athletes are in good health for Rio, having benefited from increased exposure to international competition.

"We've had a fairly tough qualification process which has been going on now for about 18 months," McKay said. "These boys had to win medals - it didn't matter which colour - at tough international competitions in Europe or Asia. That's what they did.

"They have been exposed to top international competition because we knew 2014 would be one of the toughest Commonwealth Games boxing competitions ever. We're coming up against England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland so, of course, we're delighted.

"We've got a relatively young team. We've got an 18-year-old in David Nyika, two 19-year-olds, a couple of 22-year-olds and then our old man who's 25. None of them had been to a Commonwealth Games before so, for them, it's a huge event and they've come up trumps."

Nyika was particularly impressive in his semifinal, dancing around Northern Ireland's Sean McGlinchy to secure a unanimous victory in his first major international competition.

The Hamilton teen has dreams of turning professional, and McKay believes that's achievable. But the team director believes it's crucial for his squad to continue benefiting from overseas exposure, with a recent $95,000 grant from High Performance Sport New Zealand helping fund trips to England, Poland, Finland and Albania.

"I think at 18 years old, David can do anything," said McKay.

"He's talking about going to Rio and I think that is what he should be doing. It will be a hard, hard, hard competition. He should assess turning professional after that. If he wins a medal in Rio, then it's worth half-a-million bucks just in signing fees. Why wouldn't you do that?

"I think he's got a good chance for an Olympic medal, providing the programme over the next two years is adequate so he has continued exposure to tough international competition as well as international training. That's the key.

"I hope these medals put us in a pretty good position for more funding. I'll go and talk to them when I get back. They've been very good to us and I have to thank them for that."