‘We’re expecting some fireworks’: Australia to host Great Britain Army in amateur boxing card

One of Australia’s Paris-bound Olympians will headline a “once in a lifetime” boxing card later this week in an event which will showcase some of the country’s best amateurs.

The card will include local athletes: include Tomas Dvizac, Dante Karlusic, Rocco Brigante, Will Lenehan, Jesse Bolt, Daniel Wetherill, Dante Farah, Julie Ramadan, Ali Lai-Carlyle, Josh McCormick, Leo Shen, and Rick Chuol. Picture: ARCHIVIST MEDIA.

Organiser Sam Brizzi calls it “an opportunity”.

He and his team at Boxing Victoria have planned for a group of Australia’s best amateur boxers to take on athletes from Great Britain’s Army in “a once in a lifetime experience” this Friday.

Included in the card – which will unfold on May 3 at Croatian House in Footscray – is Paris Olympian Marissa Williamson-Pohlman.

The card will include local athletes: include Tomas Dvizac, Dante Karlusic, Rocco Brigante, Will Lenehan, Jesse Bolt, Daniel Wetherill, Dante Farah, Julie Ramadan, Ali Lai-Carlyle, Josh McCormick, Leo Shen, and Rick Chuol. Picture: ARCHIVIST MEDIA.

Brizzi said it was hard for the local boxers to look beyond the opportunity.

“The big thing our boxers get out of it is that it’s really their first or one of their first tastes of international boxing,” he said.

“We’ve tried to identify to our development athletes, our younger ones coming through and have them boxing in an international fight in their own backyard – which is rare.

“The last time we had the navy come over in 2016, it was Harry Garside’s first elite international tournament and, if you know Harry Garside, you know what he’s achieved for this country.

“It can be an opportunity for someone that is never going to box for Australia to box for Victoria and Australia in front of their family and friends.

“Opportunity is the operative word in this situation, you can’t look beyond that.

“It may be a platform, it may not be, but it’s a once in a lifetime experience for these guys.”

Picture: ARCHIVIST MEDIA

Amateur boxing cards like this one normally take place on a Sunday and are more of a low-key, family affair.

But Brizzi and his team have moved it to a Friday night to bolster the atmosphere of the event.

“They’ve been that way for the past 30 or 40 years but this show is on a Friday and it creates a different atmosphere, therefore we try and make it a bit more of a show,” he said.

“If you watch most international tournaments other than the Olympics, it’s pretty formal and structured, get in, compete, get out, so forth.

“It’s one of those opportunities we can have a bit more music, a bit more fun and it gets the boxers up a bit more too.

“Normally in these shows the boxers bring more intensity, so we’re expecting some fireworks on Friday.”

Marissa Williamson-Pohlman. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images for AOC)

The event will be one of Williamson-Pohlman’s last in an Australian ring before heading to Paris and Brizzi couldn’t think of a better way to prepare.

“There’s no better preparation than boxing in your own backyard before heading off to the biggest stage,” he said.

Brizzi isn’t short of praise for boxing as a sport itself, saying it is “a severely underrated sport” and that he “can’t recommend people to try boxing enough.”

The first bout of the night is at 7pm.