News / ‘Road warrior’ Irvine wins maiden boxing bout
A YOUNG man from Yell has been travelling to Aberdeen regularly over the last year to pursue a career in amateur boxing.
Last week, Stuart Irvine fought his first official fight and defeated experienced boxer Tom Clark from Perth Railway boxing club.
With no boxing facilities available in Shetland, the 24 year old joiner, who now lives in Lerwick, started boxing in the Staney Hill Hall with friends around seven years ago.
They initially followed boxing instructions on YouTube to get going, but with no one with coaching experience available in Shetland, progress was slow and difficult.
Irvine then started travelling to Kincorth Amateur Boxing, in Aberdeen, about a year ago to fulfill his dream.
Now known as the “road warrior” for the time he spends travelling to be able to participate in coaching sessions, Irvine is delighted with his progress.
His coach Philip Brown said the club had initially been reluctant to have anything to do with him, as no one believed he had the commitment to regularly travel down to Aberdeen to train with the club for two hours and then sail north again for 12 hours.
Brown said: “It gave me a chance to have a look at him. Stuart was very raw, had picked up a lot of bad habits, but it was obvious this kid had something.
“From that moment on I would be coaching via telephone and internet. Stuart would send me videos of his sparring with friends, which I would study and then point out his mistakes.
“Every other month this young guy was travelling down costing him a small fortune; I could not believe it. Aberdeen is a long way for someone to travel to chase a dream but that’s what Stuart did.”
As he progressed Irvine was able to handle more experienced sparring partners until the club decided to get him a fight, which took place last week.
Irvine described boxing as an “exciting sport”, based on the individual, but done as a team.
“It’s all about sportsmanship, mental strength and figuring out your opponent and finding a way to outpace and outsmart him,” he said.
Steps are now underway to establish a local boxing club in Shetland with the help of Amateur Boxing Scotland.
Anyone interested to get involved can contact Stuart Irvine by emailing irvine43@hotmail.co.uk.
He also would like to hear from local companies interested in sponsoring him or helping with his travel cost to Aberdeen.
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