Powar and poise – Gully out to be England champion

The 19-year-old lightweight, from Whitmore Reans, advanced past the area stages with a unanimous points victory in the West Midlands final (March 27). Powar has spent his entire amateur career with Wolverhampton Boxing Club, representing them to the tune of 33 bouts, 25 of those wins. He’s coached by ex-pro Richie Carter.

His latest success makes it five area titles in national competition, a second in the Elites following on from two Youth and one Schools accolade. He reached the national semi-finals in the 2019 Elite tournament, where he was ousted by Joe McGuiness, from Jimmy Egan’s Boxing Academy, on a split decision.

Powar had broken his hand, in an earlier phase, and is now reaping the benefits of being able to fire on all cylinders again, as evidenced by this year’s run.

He’d already dumped out West Warwick’s Joe Dadson, who is seven years his senior, through a split to reach the area decider, where he faced Mohammed Zabeer.

Powar bossed all three rounds to have his hand raised unanimously, taking him through to the national quarter-finals today (April 9), at the University of East London SportsDock.

The talented teenager has recent experience of visiting the capital, mixing it with the pros as part of his training regime. He’s now utilising his boxing background as a day job, too.

Since last July, Powar has been employed as a sports activator coach at the InPower Academy, a community interest company based in Wolverhampton.

The former Thomas Telford UTC pupil and City of Wolverhampton College student has three A Levels in public service, along with being ranked No.3 in the Elite lightweight standings.

He said: “At under 60kg (lightweight), I’ll put myself up against anyone in the country, so I’m confident I can do better and, hopefully, go all of the way this time.

“I’ve put the work in, I’ve been training hard and I went to London, where I met Barry and Shane McGuigan (former world champion and trainer son) and Daniel Dubois (top prospect).

“Barry and Shane look after Adam Azim (4-0 pro) and I had a couple of rounds sparring with him, which was a great experience for me. I think I showed some of what I can do in the (West) Midlands final (against Mohammed Zabeer) where I should, really, have stopped him.

“It felt like I threw about 500 punches in that fight! From the first round, I slowed him down with body shots and my left hook couldn’t miss. I was landing bigger and heavier shots, in the second, I kept the pressure on him and used my jab, so I could look for more openings.

“I caught him with a lot of uppercuts, in the third, and I heard him grunt from another left hook to the body, so he went into his shell and managed to hold, until it finished.

“That was a dominant performance, a back-foot opponent suits my style and the one before (Joe Dadson) was harder. He gave me a good fight, but I still feel that I won every round.

“I look up to the old-school fighters, which is why I use my jab and ring IQ like Richie always instructs me to do.

“Roberto Duran is one of my favourites. He was a lightweight, like me, and I modelled my combination punching on him. Thomas Hearns is another, because of the skill in his jab. For me, Joe Calzaghe is the greatest British fighter ever, with all that he achieved and staying undefeated, but Canelo (Alvarez) is my idol. He’s a class act and that inspires me.”