Miakhail battles his way to gold

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/05/2016 (3737 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Dufferin Park teen brought home gold after dominating the ring at the junior national boxing championships.

Jawad Miakhail earned the top spot in the 46-kilogram weight class at the 2016 Canadian Junior National Championships held in Quebec City from March 28 to April 2.

The Grade 9 student got involved in the sport a year and a half ago. The reasons he enjoys boxing are simple yet succinct.

“I like fighting. That’s it,” Miakhail said. “It felt great to win because all that hard work paid off.”
The talented teen has been rolling with the punches to maintain good grades while also sticking to a vigorous training program.

“I practise Monday, Tuesday and Thursday after school. And for the nationals, I used to train five days a week,” he said. “When I’m not boxing, I also enjoy playing basketball when there’s free time.”

Coach Mark Collins is proud of Miakhail’s accomplishments during his short time with the sport.

“He’s only been boxing for a year and a half so he’s very, very committed. We set a goal to accumulate 12 to 15 bouts and to be able to go and participate in the Canadian championships,” Collins said.

“And he stuck to that goal and made himself available. He trained full-time and he boxed every opportunity he had to achieve his 12 to 15 bouts. He also achieved going to the nationals — but little did we know that he would win.”

Competition was steep, but that didn’t stop Miakhail, who won his first fight against a boxer from Nova Scotia. He followed up with a second victory against a more experienced fighter from Quebec.

“He was talking to the kid afterwards, and that kid had been boxing for five years,” Collins said.

Although Collins is Miakhail’s personal coach, he was unable to work his corner at the competition because he’s also one of the national coaches for Boxing Canada. He was at the competition, but he was analyzing boxers for the national team. He stands behind Miakhail’s achievements and continues to train him for future success out of Alliance Boxing Club.

“He’s pretty mature for 14. He works very hard,” Collins said. “Since Quebec City, he’s had two more fights — one in Grand Forks and another one in Beausejour. They’ve got to keep him busy in order to gain experience as an athlete.”