’She can fight’: How Glennon proved coach wrong in best way
Amy Glennon has a Muay Thai world championship gold medal and will fight for a WKBF Australian title this week. But this is why it took 12 months for her coach to allow her to debut.
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PAUL Hosking does not mind admitting how wrong he was in his initial assessment of Muay Thai athlete Amy Glennon.
The Pretty Muay Thai owner has coached Glennon for the past three years, but he didn’t exactly view her as someone who could - or should - get in the ring.
“When Amy first came to me, for a year of training her I was probably one of her biggest …. non-supporters,” Hosking said.
“I was not very supportive of her fighting.
“I didn’t think she’d do very well, just from a development point of view I was a little bit concerned about putting her in the ring.”
Glennon, Far North Queensland’s newest world champion, is preparing to fight for a national title on Saturday night.
She will fight Skylah Hamil for the WKBF Australian Featherweight Title at Rumble at the Ridge XXXVII, as she seeks to end the year on a high.
Glennon become the region’s latest champion after claiming a gold medal at the ISKA World Championships in Turkey, stopping her Moroccan opponent in just 45 seconds.
That monumental success came just 18 months after her first fight, and Hosking said he might carry some of the blame for her long wait.
“It was hilarious, she came to the ring and I was there saying I hope she doesn’t get hurt to much,” Hosking said.
“We’re watching and a minute or two in I turn to my second and go ‘she can fight’.
“We were all laughing, it was amazing – look how well she’s done.”
The championship success caps a meteoric rise for the Redlynch fighter, who trains under Hosking at Pretty Muai Thai’s Grafton St gym.
She started training simply from a desire to learn to punch, gain fitness and learn self defence, and that has evolved into an accomplished journey so far.
Hosking puts Glennon’s success down to not only her hard work, but her confidence and self-belief.
“Amy is one of the most confident people in the world, she really believes in herself – even if her coach didn’t,” Hosking said.
“She believed in herself and she really changed my mind, she brought me around.
“Just her work ethic, she never gave up, never gave in, never took no for an answer.
“She’d come to me and say there’s a fight show coming up I want you to put me in and I’d say no, no, you’re not ready. That went on for about 12 months.
“I’m the type of coach who if somebody wants to fight for our gym or fight for me, I have to dot the i’s, cross the t’s.
“I have to make sure we have done everything we possibly can do to put you in there and you can come out safely, or as safe as possible – it’s fighting.
“Eventually I said to the other coaches that we’ll put her in there, at the very least she finds out it’s not for her and she stops asking, or she gets in there and she proves me wrong.
“And from that first fight, every fight she gets in, she proves me wrong.
“I’ve become very happy when people prove me wrong in this way. She got in there and showed me she belongs in that ring.”
Glennon is one of three Pretty Muay Thai fighters on the card.
Caleb Curley will fight Luke Fraser (JTA Muay Thai), while Myles Pressley will fight Ben Gosling (Karma Muay Thai).
‘It’s pretty wild’: How a hospitality worker won world Muay Thai gold
She is a dedicated hospitality worker, loving wife, and a two-time cat mum who started hitting pads three years ago after she wanted to learn self-defence.
Now, Amy Glennon can call herself a Muay Thai world champion.
Glennon become the region’s latest champion after claiming a gold medal at the ISKA World Championships in Turkey, stopping her Moroccan opponent in just 45 seconds.
“It’s pretty wild, not something I ever expected,” she said.
“When I got into it, I don’t think I had any goals more than just having a fight, stepping into the ring and ticking that box.”
The championship success caps a meteoric rise for the Redlynch fighter, who trains under Paul Hosking at Pretty Muai Thai’s Grafton St gym.
She has worked with Hosking for about three years, but what started as a desire to learn to punch, gain fitness and learn self defence has evolved into an accomplished journey so far for the Redlynch fighter.
Glennon had her first fight less than 18 months ago, and is building a strong record and reputation as one of the region’s leading female fighters.
But it’s only been this year that she’s set major goals - which included a title win.
“As soon as I got out of the ring the first time I remember (Paul) said to me do you want to do it again in four weeks and I said yeah absolutely,” Glennon said.
“Since then, I’ve been consistently fighting.
“We’ve taken it one a time, but it was only this year we started to look longer term goals and I got the idea I wanted a title, I wanted to compete for and win a belt.
“Now we’re at that stage, we’re looking at bigger goals and more titles.”
Through that time, Hosking has witnessed Glennon’s epic work ethic take her up the ladder.
This was the first time Glennon fought without Hosking in her corner, but the Pretty Muay Thai owner had all the faith she would deliver for the green and gold.
“Of all the fighters I’ve developed, she’s the most attentive to detail, she’s the one who listens to the directions and the process,” Hosking said.
“The way we do things is very systemised, it’s structured.
“We don’t just come in and do this or that, we worked on this on Monday and on Tuesday we do this. We have to build a fighter.
“If anyone could go over there without me and do well, it was Amy.
“She’s in here every day, I see the work ethic, how much she puts in. to see her go to Turkey and do what she did, I’m not surprised.”
Glennon was part of an Australian team which dominated, with all seven fighters going undefeated and bringing back nine gold medals.
The gold medal adds to the ISKA Queensland title she won in July - the victory which sealed her spot in the Australian team - and Glennon is already eyeing her next challenge, which could come in the way of a title fight in the next fortnight.
And while she remains active, Glennon is enjoying every part of the journey.
“I’m proud of myself. I’ve made him proud, and that’s a big deal to me,” Glennon said.
“I feel like I’ve been able to earn my keep a bit in the gym and put a belt on that wall. One of the moments I’ll hold onto forever.
“Right now, I feel like when I’m in the sunset years of my life when I’m old and retired and I’m looking back at the cool things I did, Muay Thai will be one of the things I bring up.”
And where does the fight name, Tekkers, come from?
“She’s a very good student, good at following direction,” Hosking said.
“It’s why her fight name is called Tekkers.
“When I’m with her in the corner, it’s like playing a video game – everything I call, she just instantly does it.”
matthew.mcinerney1@news.com.au
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