Sport
21 March, 2024
Stoneleigh triumphs to claim world title
Jackson ‘Stoneleigh’ Griffiths contested the WBC World Youth Welterweight Title recently against Thai athlete Anuson Thonglueang, snatching victory in a textbook performance to make his hometown proud.
“Everything was on point, it couldn’t have gone better,” Stoneleigh said.
“My whole training camp, and my weight cut leading up to that week was all on point too.”
Stoneleigh’s coach Brad Smith said he couldn’t be prouder, and that the precision of his performance on the night, only highlights the calibre of the athlete that Stoneleigh is.
At age 22, he has contested 13 professional fights and remains undefeated.
In the lead up to last week’s fight, he underwent intense training preparation, before weighing in on Thursday at 66.1kg, under the 66.67kg cut-off.
Stoneleigh’s opponent Thonglueang, was described by Mr Smith as a man who had runs on the board, with 25 fights and 19 wins.
Still, it wasn’t enough to defeat Pittsworth’s star boxer’s precision and skill, in the ring.
Stoneleigh first met his coach when he was asked to break in a couple of horses for him.
Mr Smith was a boxer himself, up until he turned 21 and joined the army.
He coached boxing for decades, including Gary Ruhle who won an Australian title, but was retired when he met Stoneleigh.
“It [boxing] just came up in a conversation,” Stoneleigh said.
Mr Smith told him to get in the ring and, “Show me what you’ve got.”
The rest, as they say, is history.
Later, when Stoneleigh received a call from Mr Smith with the opportunity to turn professional, he agreed but claimed that he would give it away afterward.
In 2019, Stoneleigh won his first professional fight, the Brayd Smith Memorial Belt, which was in honour of Mr Smith’s 23 years old grandson, a boxing prospect who died two days after his final bout in 2015.
Needless to say, Stoneleigh’s talent for the sport, perseverance and dedication for his training, has seen him become an inspiration to young athletes, and earn the moniker bestowed on him by the community, as the ‘Pride of Pittsworth’.
When speaking about his boxing journey, Stoneleigh disclosed that the sport has taught him discipline.
“It’s made me a better person,” he said.
Stoneleigh explained that there’s a lot of hard work that is put into these boxing matches.
“It’s a very disciplined sport, it’s not just strength.
“You’ve got to have the right mind for it.
“A lot of people only see you get in the ring and fight, they don’t see what happens behind the scenes,” he said.
“Until you experience how much training there is, the lead up to the fight, the press conference, the weigh in - so much goes into it.”
Pittsworth has always been a boxing town, with sportsmen like Gary Ruhle, Nev Hohn, Len Wain, Barry McGrath, Les Hohn and Dudley Cronin making their mark over the decades, as recorded in 1950s editions of The Sentinel.
Mr Smith trains a good crowd of young, keen boxers at his gym and says they’re a good group of kids.
Perhaps our own Stoneleigh is the beginning of a new generation of Pittsworth ‘greats’ in the boxing world.
