COLE Hansen of Penarth Amateur Boxing Club entered the Novice Welsh Championships on Saturday, October 1.

His first fight on Saturday was against Torie Jones of Afan Spartans ABC. Cole was under orders to box strong behind his jab and then come through with the right-hand left hook.

Cole went out and did exactly what he was told and within 40 seconds the referee had to stop the fight. This meant Cole had to fight the following day.

Coach Neil Munn knew that this was going to be a much tougher task against Leighton Turnball of Maelor ABC.

Before the fight Neil was telling Cole to forget about yesterday as today was a totally different opponent.

Cole had the same instructions as the first fight but to concentrate more on the jab and to keep his hands up. Cole caught Turnball with a couple of good jabs but Turnball didn’t budge and when Cole tried to step in with a right hand Turnball blocked it and let fire with some good punches.

Cole immediately panicked and started swinging punches which you do not do in boxing because straight punches will always get there first. Cole lost the first round.

When Cole came back to the corner Neil gave him a real telling off and told him he must get back to his boxing or he would lose this chance of wearing a Welsh vest.

Cole did this brilliantly by staying behind a strong jab and in the end Cole came out an easy winner with all three judges agreeing that he had won the fight.

Cole is now Welsh Novice Champion in the zero to five fights category.

When asked Neil said that if Cole sticks at it and works hard he could end up becoming an Open Class Welsh Champion.