[ad_1]
\n<\/p>\n
As a child, Liam Wilson never stopped shadow boxing. And if there were any lingering suspicions that he was chasing the wrong caper, those were answered on a trip to Russia at the age of 14.<\/p>\n
“They asked, ‘Why are you boxing?’<\/p>\n
“I was like, ‘Why did you say that? You can’t say that! But he was just being honest.'”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Tindall runs the Catoolture Boxing Club with her husband and coach, Don, and is also Queensland’s boxing administrator.<\/p>\n
Wilson will get a chance to prove he’s the champion he’s always wanted next Friday night (Saturday AEDT) in Phoenix.<\/p>\n
A series of lucky events means the 26-year-old will fight Emmanuel Navarrete for the vacant WBC super featherweight world title.<\/p>\n
Ann Tindall remembers the day Wilson stepped into the gym when she was 12.<\/p>\n
“I could see it right away,” she told AAP. “Donnie was sure, ‘This kid must be everything I told him, he’s gotta go home and practice.’<\/p>\n
“He came the next day and nailed it.<\/p>\n
“He walks around shadow sparring everywhere he goes and has been that way since the beginning.<\/p>\n
“Liam is very deceptive. His abilities are invisible when you are talking to him.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“He’s shy, but he knows he’s good, and that’s great.<\/p>\n
“He realized pretty early on what he could do with that power, but he never developed this innate ability.<\/p>\n
“He walked in the door wanting to do whatever he had to do to be the best.”<\/p>\n
Wilson, who weighs less than 59 kg at the Desert Diamond Arena, seems destined for this moment, having won over 100 amateur bouts under Tyndale before turning pro in 2018.<\/p>\n
A brutal knockout loss in 2021 put his run to a halt, but Wilson soon sought a rematch and battled some inner demons before giving himself a knockout to right the ship.<\/p>\n
He was preparing for a world title eliminator on the undercard of Tim Tzee’s title fight in Las Vegas this week.<\/p>\n
That bout was subsequently postponed, but Wilson had already offered a challenge for the throne when Oscar Valdez, who was due to fight Navarrete for the title vacated by Shakur Stevenson, was injured.<\/p>\n
But Wilson, who promised his dying father when he was 15 that he would become world champion, feels ready for years.<\/p>\n
“I do, I do,” Wilson smiled when he recounted Tyndale’s shadow boxing memories.<\/p>\n
“I just lived, breathed and loved boxing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI came from Kingaroy and transitioned from training two to four days a week (in Caboolture) and thought, ‘This is the real thing.<\/p>\n
“For me, it was the pinnacle and the people who came to that gym knew every sparring session was going to be a war.<\/p>\n
“I thought of myself as World Champion material. It was only a matter of time… Fast forward 17 years later and that’s where I am.<\/p>\n
Trainer Ben Harrington says his charge has no weaknesses.<\/p>\n
“Boxers like him are like unicorns. They don’t exist,” he said before the 2018 Commonwealth Games.<\/p>\n
“He’s a weirdo. There’s no other way to say it. The complete package.<\/p>\n
“Fastest, strongest, and explosive. He’s the hungrier and the most determined.<\/p>\n
“He can do orthodox boxing, he can do southpaw boxing. There’s nothing he can’t do.”<\/p>\n
A father of two, Wilson is a humble and tamed admiration for Don Tyndall.<\/p>\n
“He shaped me into who I am today and my fighting style,” Wilson told AAP, aiming to become just the second current Australian men’s world champion.<\/p>\n
“I’ve had about 100 fights under Don. When I was younger I used to fight tough guys, big guys, and they didn’t come easy.<\/p>\n
“He always told us that sparring is like a 12-round world title fight. That’s how we handle it.”<\/p>\n
Navarrete is undefeated in 31 games in 11 years, and 30 of his 36 wins have come by knockout, so his Phoenix chances may not go far.<\/p>\n
Wilson, a knockout merchant himself, sought out sparring partners during the eight-week US fight camp, often switching at the end of each round, to prepare for Mexico’s unorthodox style.<\/p>\n
“I come in with a boxing mindset, but I’m trying to knock him out,” he said.<\/p>\n
“It could end in a real shootout.”<\/p>\n
-AAP<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n