Townsville boxer Earleeo Cole cheats death to become champion
Earleeo ‘the Coal Train’ Cole has been a fighter since his first breath, cheating death seven times throughout his childhood before chasing his boxing dream. Read his incredible journey.
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ONE of the most promising junior boxers North Queensland has seen in recent memory returned from Melbourne late in 2022 with an Australian title belt, but it didn’t come close to the fight he won just to survive his childhood.
Earleeo ‘the Coal Train’ Cole has been a fighter since his first breath, cheating death seven times after a multitude of health issues triggered by being born just five months into his mother’s pregnancy.
On one occasion, as deadly Cyclone Yasi struck North Queensland’s coast in 2011, the now 15-year-old’s father Russell said he died in his arms, only to be brought back to life by what he described as a miracle.
With the Herbert River swelling well over its banks and preventing the arrival of an ambulance, and with trees down on the train lines, the Ingham-based father and four-year-old son had to be ferried to hospital by an SES-manned tinny.
It wasn’t the first time the young champion had flirted with death. When Earleeo was born on Christmas Eve in 2007, doctors told Russell to expect the worst.
“He’s God’s kid, he’s a miracle child,” Russell said. “He was way smaller than my hand, he was under half a pound and the doctors said he wasn’t going to make it.
“I told the doctor, ‘look, I believe that God has given you the power to perform miracles with your hands, so either he lives or dies, I’m ready for this’.
“The doctor said to me, ‘If he ever beats this, put him into boxing, because he’s a fighter’.”
That’s exactly what Russell did.
And in just three years Earleeo was crowned Australian Amateur Super Welterweight (60kg) Boxing Champion for his age group after his Australian Boxing League bout in December.
The toughest of childhoods
Earleeo’s early years were complicated and for more than his health challenges alone.
After Cyclone Yasi, the Coles battled with homelessness for five years.
Russell sang folk songs on the streets of Ingham to make enough money to survive.
“I was staying on the streets, I was living in a box, lots of times I’d cover up with bubble wrap, and people didn’t know nothing,” Russell said.
“I never asked nobody for help. I did it myself, then I started singing and playing guitar on the streets.
“When I got money I would get motels, rental cars. It got me off the street and I went to the homeless hub and went into emergency housing, and then I went into housing and private rentals.
“For seven years I was living in that house, and I said to myself, I will never be homeless again.”
Russell struggled to fill the roles of both mother and father after separating from his partner when Earleeo was a toddler, and it was during this homeless period he fell into trouble, both with drugs and feelings of self-worth.
It took a shift in his mindset to get back on track.
“I was pretty messed up and I couldn’t find myself,” he said.
“I got out of my stuck-in-the-mud mentality then I became a carer, looking after the Elders with Earleeo and we gave them a good life before they passed away.
“We learned how to help people once I got out of being homeless, and I felt I could help anyone and care for people.”
Russell said he had done everything in his power to conquer his demons and give his son the best opportunity for success.
From hard knocks to knocking hard
Fighting through life’s adversities proved how strong the pair are mentally, but in the ring is where Earleeo’s toughness is put on show.
“My son has worked so hard. He’s had to fight kids bigger than him and older than him, because there was no one in his weight division,” Russell said.
“He was going up to like 65kg when he was 13 years old, fighting against kids who were 16.
“After taking some losses, when he came back down to his own level he was on top.
“He’s a warrior. He beats me hands down. I’ve got faith that he’s going to be something big, and I could see it for a long time.”
Born with three holes in his heart, his stomach outside his belly, chronic asthma and plagued by seizures and fits, Earleeo’s early prospects didn’t look good.
After receiving his first surgery to mend his stomach just weeks into his life, Earleeo wasn’t passing excrement due to a kink.
Surgeons cut him open again and to take 10cm from his bowels, and by the time they were finished, Earleeo’s liver had begun to fail.
The premature baby spent five months in hospital until he was ready to take on the wide world.
It took eight years, and seven near deaths, for the 15-year-old to get over the worst of his health issues.
Now Earleeo said he is ready to be an inspiration for Indigenous and non-Indigenous kids of North Queensland.
Representing the culture
Cole is a traditional owner of North Queensland via his Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage, where he has connections to the Nywaigi and Manbarra (Palm Island) people.
He also has South Sea Islander heritage, with ancestors tracing back to New Caledonia and Vanuatu.
“Now I’m a single Indigenous father raising my son,” Russell said.
“We’re representing our people to the world, and we’re a people of peace.
“Earleeo represents all the black nations in this country, including the South Sea Islanders who were cane slaves and cane cutters in the 1800s.”
The young champion was quietly achieving in his sport until a 30cm growth spurt in 2021 turbocharged his trajectory. In 2022 Earleeo won the golden gloves event in Mareeba and North Queensland titles in Townsville, before getting his first TKO at the Queensland titles and finishing the year with the Australian Championship in the 60kg division.
The junior boxer is now coached by Derek Webber at North Coast Combat Fitness in Townsville, but has also trained with some of the best coaches in Queensland, including Stevie Lawlor, Dale Artango, Marshall Cassidy, Matthew Rooney and ex-Newcastle Knights NRL player Milton Thaiday.
Despite his successes in 2022, Earleeo almost didn’t make the trip down to Melbourne for the Australian titles.
“We couldn’t afford to go down there with our coaches and everyone, so he was going to wait until next year to compete,” Russell said.
“I said to Matty Rooney, ‘I really want him to go, if I pay his way down will you let me take him?’
“He said, ‘if you can come up with the money you can do it’.
“So I met with a group called Black Power, a motorcycle group, and they wanted to help the community and the Indigenous kids, and they helped us get down there.”
Help from an unexpected corner
Black Power began in New Zealand around 1970 in response to the rival Mongrel Mob gang and white power-associated gangs.
The criminality and brutality of the gang is well documented in New Zealand but Cole’s father insisted Black Power was not a gang, rather a group trying to help the community and make a good name for themselves.
“They took a week to fund him to get him down to Melbourne for the Australian titles, and it would have taken a month or more for someone to get that funding from the government,” Cole said.
The Queensland Government confirmed the Cole family had not sought its financial support for the trip.
Sports minister Stephen Hinchcliffe did not answer Bulletin enquiries about the difficulty for regional athletes to access funding but a department spokeswoman said the government strived to support high-performance athletes via programs including the Youfor32 program.
Future goals
Russell said his son’s success has encouraged him to keep fighting and get better, to hopefully one day become a world champion.
Earleeo’s age puts him perfectly placed to appear in the 2032 Olympic Games in Brisbane, when he will be 24 years old.
“When you believe in something and make dreams, dreams can come true,” Russell said.
“We went down there (to the Australian Boxing League) by faith and we accomplished something that we’ve never accomplished in our family’s lives.
“We were on top of Australia for once.”
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