Bulls' new NZ middleweight champion Emile Richardson hopes to make it to Commonwealth Games

Emile Richardson won the NZ boxing middleweight 75kg championship at the NZ boxing amateur nationals on April 23. Photo / Supplied

Bulls boxer Emile Richardson is a step closer to selection for this year's Commonwealth Games after winning the New Zealand Boxing middleweight 75kg championship.

He won the title at the 2021 New Zealand Amateur Boxing Nationals, which took place on April 20-23 at Whanganui's Jubilee Stadium.

The event had been set for October last year, but had to be rescheduled twice due to Covid-19 restrictions, being moved to January, and then the final date in April.

Richardson, who fought semifinal and final fights on his way to the title, said his first fight proved the biggest challenge because he wasn't on his A game and his opponent's fighting style made it difficult for him.

"But I got through it and I beat him," Richardson said.

That win sent him to the finals for the championship, which he won on a unanimous decision.

Overall, Richardson said the event and his preparations for it had gone as smoothly as he could have hoped for.

"Everything went pretty smoothly, even my weight cut."

Boxing runs in Richardson's family, with his uncle and grandfather also high-level boxers.

He has been boxing since childhood, and said as an energetic kid he preferred boxing as his sport of choice over rugby.

Richardson said he hoped the championship win would secure him a spot in the New Zealand boxing squad for this year's Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England.

Richardson said the selection process for the games had involved a series of training camps and "box-off" matches to whittle down a long list of New Zealand amateur boxers into the five-man and five-woman squads being sent to the games.

Richardson said he won his box-off match, which also had him sent over to Thailand for a training camp and boxing tournament a week and a half before his title win.

He believed the amateur nationals were the last step of the selection process, so now he was waiting on Boxing New Zealand for confirmation on whether he made the team.

"It's pretty stressful eh?" he said.

If selected, Richardson will take part in international tournaments as preparation for the Games, before going to Birmingham from July 8 to August 28.

Richardson thanked his family and coaches, as well as The Healthy Bastards Helping Hand Foundation and John Turkington Forestry, for supporting him in his boxing career.