The Laverton Youth Boxing Gym is changing lives – boxer Anthony Buttigieg started training there 13 years ago; this month he won the Commonwealth super welterweight title against Queenslander Rocky Jerkic.
Buttigieg, 28, from Altona Meadows, said he now hopes to become a world champion.
“Hopefully, I can head down the right track and just keep winning and possibly defend that Commonwealth title and, hopefully, it will lead to bigger fights and possibly a world title,” he said. “I’d be the first world champion from Hobsons Bay, I guess.”
Laverton Community Integrated Services (LCIS) runs the gym on the smell of an oily rag, at Laverton Guides hall in Railway Avenue, under registered trainer Sammy de Moor.
LCIS chief executive Michael Pernar said he found a venue for the gym after learning that de Moor was training kids in a carpark after being forced out of a building because of asbestos.
Mr Pernar said Buttigieg was a prime example of what could be achieved with determination.
“Now he’s gotten to the point where he’s a professional and, one day, he’s the type of person who’ll be able to talk to young people so they can see just how much his life’s changed,” Mr Pernar said. “It’s really been a community effort to keep it running; it’s not just an outlet to keep young people out of trouble.
“Through boxing they learn discipline, they learn respect, they learn self respect, they learn how to eat properly … it’s an art.”
De Moor, also from Altona Meadows, said Buttigieg shows what kids from the west can achieve.
“This was his 13th fight [as a professional] and he hasn’t been beaten,” de Moor said.
