When William Saunders joined the Fun Box club at Sturminster Newton Boxing Gym five years ago, coach Shaun Weeks knew he was a future bright star for the club. Last year William made it to the National Schools Championship Final, narrowly losing out on a very tight points decision to an unbeaten boxer from Washington Tyne & Wear. The following season June 2023-May 2024 William continued to improve, with a few narrow defeats that were on occasions hard to take, says Shaun: ‘Pushing European Champion Billy Long to the wire in the Barum Box Cup and then losing again in the King of the Ring (Sweden) final on a split decision was hard.
Again we thought William had done enough to win. So we sat down and had a chat to see what was needed to change those ‘nearly wins’ into actual wins.
‘The coaching team felt William just needed a bit more aggression and – more importantly – some self belief. He deserves to be on the top table.
‘William took it in, worked hard over the summer: and now he’s reaping the rewards. At the start of June he travelled to the Bristol Box Cup Championship and came home with a gold medal.
‘The following weekend we were in Manchester for their Box Cup Championship, and William beat the favourite to win a second gold in two weeks!
‘Then a few weeks ago we were in Ilfracombe to compete in the Barum Box Cup, where William won both the semi final and the final with stoppages. Three gold medals in a row: that’s some achievement for the 14 year old!’
Moving forward
William will be travelling to Sweden at the end of October with nine of his teammates, looking to continue his gold rush at The King of the Ring Championships. Next March he will be looking to step up again in the National Championships, moving from the Schools age group to Junior as he looks for his first national title.
