THERE have not been many elite south-eastern boxers about, but Jason Whateley hopes to become the next big thing as he’s fought his way to the top of Australian amateur boxing. He talked to JARROD POTTER about his life in the ring and what it takes to pursue his boxing dream – qualifying for the Olympic Games.
SIX days a week, two times a day, you’ll find Berwick boxer Jason Whateley in the ring.
A gruelling training regime is the only way the 24-year-old can keep in peak condition in a crucial period with the World Championships and Olympic Games around the corner.
Whateley’s boxing journey began innocuously enough – as a lot of great sporting tales do – as his Bairnsdale football team mates put his name down for a “footy fight” – a sanctioned amateur boxing bout between two footballers.
He won it and has been hooked ever since.
“Just playing local footy and back down in the country – Bairnsdale – they used to have a footy fight,” Whateley said.
“Two footy players from different clubs would train up and have a proper amateur fight and they put my name in for that.
“I said no worries and won by knockout in the third round and absolutely loved it.
“I loved it – thought to myself ‘how good is this’ – and didn’t look back.”
Turning his 196cm, 90kg frame from the footballing world, Whateley threw his weight behind his boxing ambitions and has been pushing towards the peak of the amateur ranks ever since.
He hasn’t always been a south-easterner, though, as Gippsland life didn’t provide enough boxing opportunities for the butcher-turned-boxer.
He packed up his butcher’s knifes and boxing gloves and book traded life in Lakes Entrance for better sparring opportunities in the city, settling in Narre Warren South before recently moving to Berwick.
“I had about 20 fights down where I was training in in Bairnsdale,” Whateley said.
“I went overseas and fought and trained in Cuba and then I wasn’t getting any sparring partners down in Gippsland.
“I’d work as a butcher all week and on Friday I’d drive up and spar with different partners down here Saturday, Sunday and drive home Sunday night.
“It just wrecked me as it’s a four hour drive – but then my parents moved here and I thought it would be easier to move down here and be a lot better for my boxing.”
“Getting heaps more opportunities with training and all that type of thing – had a lot of different sparring partners and there are plenty down here so it’s really good.”
It’s been a winning move for Whateley who has been knocking off achievements on his boxing journey – ranging from a World Championships campaign in 2013, gold at the Arafura Games in Darwin and also a medal-winning effort in New Caledonia.
Adding his biggest achievement to the resume recently, Whateley was crowned the Australian heavyweight (91kg) amateur champion at the Australian Amateur Boxing Championships which was held on the Gold Coast earlier this month.
Despite his incredible size, Whateley sees himself as a quicker, more tactical boxer than some of his brutish, power-packed opponents.
An orthodox right hander – he focuses on his stamina and trying to last out a match but said he will take the opportunity for a knockout when it arises.
“If I can get the stoppage – if that option’s there I’ll take it for sure,” Whateley said.
He smashed aside former Olympian Daniel Beahan in a unanimous decision to claim the gold – finally putting a national title into his trophy cabinet after falling just short in four other national championship campaigns.
“Over the moon – I’ve had four silver medals now ’cause I’ve been going to the nationals for the last six years now, and I just missed out on a couple of close decisions that could have gone either way,” Whateley said.
“To have a win – I was stoked as a lot of hard work has gone into it.”
It’s the first part of a qualifying process to get to the World Championships, held in October in Qatar, as he aims for the biggest international competitions.
He’ll head to the Middle East this week for the first facet of his World Championships bid before a challenge bout later in the year in Canberra.
Then it’s off to Samoa and as part of an amazingly international existence – taking his boxing from Berwick to all points on the globe.
If he doesn’t excel at the World Championships, there is another, far more stringent qualifying requirement standing between Whateley and his Olympic dream.
He’ll need to win gold at the Oceania Championships and get a top-three spot at the Asian Games to go with his Australian championship victory just to get a spot on the Rio-bound Australian team.
Despite the significant obstacle thrown in his way, he knows there’s only one way forward and that’s to keep working and, hopefully, the stars continue to align.
“They’ve made it really tough for it this year,” Whateley said.
“2012 and previously it used to just be win gold at Oceania and gold at the Australians.
“That was it and you’d get through, but now you’ve got to top three in Asia as well.
“It’s made the quota a little bit harder for the rest of us – it’s possible, it’s very doable in my position and I’m still very confident with all of the Asian countries – just have to work hard and get in there.
It’s going to be a hectic 2015 for the boxing up-and-comer, with an ambitious 10 to 12 fights on the cards for a busy schedule as he hopes to keep fighting his way towards Olympic qualification.
“For a heavyweight that’s a busy year – you don’t get as many fights as a heavyweight – but that’s the aim,” Whateley said.
“Ten to 12 fights for the year or even a little bit more would be fantastic as it depends how you go at the competitions – if you keep winning, you keep fighting.”
For more on Whateley’s boxing journey, visit his Facebook or Instagram page by searching for “Pure Boxing”.
