Young boxer making her mark

Lydia Green used to manage traffic on local roads, now the Richmond boxer is making inroads in her new sport.

Lydia always enjoyed going to the gym and was determined to get in the ring and fight.

Dixon’s Boxing head coach Randall Dixon saw something in her mindset straight away.

“Lydia had talent left, right and centre. She’s tough, well coordinated, wants to train and loves to fight,” declares Randall.

"I like the discipline and focus that boxing has brought to my life,” enthuses Lydia, who had been a troubled teenager.

She made her debut in Fight for Rangatahi 2 in Motueka last August and won by TKO (technical knockout).

The 18-year-old has had to be patient since, as she struggled to find competition in the 70kg class but has been sparring with male boxers in the gym.

The light middleweight headed to the South Island Novice Championships in Christchurch two weeks ago and had to compete in a higher weight division.
Undaunted, she recorded another TKO victory just 30 seconds into the second of three scheduled rounds.

The next day she took on Mia Brake, a more experienced fighter from Tuis Boxing Gym in Reefton, in the 75kg class final.

“We had sparred together before and her camp filmed it, so they had a plan to fight me,” reveals Lydia.

But it didn’t help, as Lydia’s aggressive and go forward style earned her a unanimous points decision and her first title.

The bigger challenge was getting home as the bouts at the Woolston Club ran late, very late.

“I couldn’t make my flight so I had to take the long drive instead, getting home at 2am,” says the 3-0 fighter.

It didn’t deter her returning to Christchurch last weekend for a rematch with Mia which she again won by unanimous points to take her record to 4-0

“Three fights in eight days and she brought some new skills in the latest one. I want her to get in the ring again in the next month,” Randall says.

He says she needed that ring time before the South Island Golden Gloves tournament in Blenheim at King’s Birthday weekend.

Rather than put on weight to contest the 75kg class, the 1.71 metre tall fighter wants to drop down to the lighter welterweight ranks.

“Hopefully we can get some competition to fight in that grade,” says Randall, who is keen to gain sponsorship for Lydia’s increasing travel demands.

Safely through that, the big goal is September’s New Zealand Amateur Boxing Championships in Wellington.

To ensure she has some balance in her life, Lydia is juggling her boxing training with studying towards a fitness and exercise science diploma at NMIT.