THERE is a promising new boxer on the scene in Beaudesert and his name is Elijah Markham.
The 15-year-old trains at Beaudesert Boxing Club and often pounds the pavements or hits the boxing gym with local success story Dylan Biggs.
Markham has fights lined up in Sydney and Toowoomba in March and he will enter the Toowoomba fight as Biggs’ undercard.
He’s had three fights so far – all against 17-year-olds – and has two wins under his belt.
His first two fights were middleweight then he moved down to amateur welterweight.
The Bulletin caught up with the softly spoken young fighter, who loves the sport for its discipline.
Markham started boxing just over a year ago at Beaudesert Boxing Club
“One of the other trainers here, Pitty (Piri McKeagg) got me into it. I just wasn’t dedicated to anything I guess, and it gave me some goals to look forward to in life,” he said.
The Beaudesert local, who was born on Tamborine Mountain and spent his early childhood there, is dedicated to boxing.
“I love the discipline, the hard work. Nothing comes easy in life so working hard at something to get somewhere is the goal,” he said.
Markham, who works five days a week at the fruit shop in Beaudesert Fair, generally trains twice a day through the week.
“When I’m not working, I’m always in the boxing gym or doing something,” he said.
He might still be relatively new to the sport, but he is serious about it.
“Everyone could say they want to be a world champion, but I’ll just keep training hard, getting the fights, I want to get a shot at the Olympics hopefully then move onto a world title hopefully,” he said.
“Dylan’s going well so I’ll watch what he’s doing, hopefully get close to where he is.”
Coach Justin O’Leary said Markham was a promising young boxer.
“He’s only 15 but when he’s over 18 he’s definitely got the potential to turn professional and follow a similar path to Dylan,” he said.
“He’s very mature and that works in his favour – he works full time, trains twice a day and he’s a good athlete.”
