AMATEUR boxer Tristan Maskell said his twice-a-day cardio workouts had given him the fitness to significantly increase his work rate in the ring.
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That’s bad news for his opponents.
Maskell, 20, of Bonnells Bay, already has the natural gifts of height and reach advantages over most cruiserweight boxers.
He’s now developing the sort of motor that allows him to maintain pressure on opponents from the opening bell.
That’s what happened when Maskell defeated Grafton boxer Zac Cotten in Sydney in August to win the NSW cruiserweight title.
“I felt really good that night,” Maskell said.
“I knew what I had to do, and my work rate was high. The jab was really working and I had him on the ropes all the time.”
Maskell won the bout with a technical knock-out in the second round.
That win extended Maskell’s unbeaten streak to nine.
The rangy orthodox boxer said training twice a day at the Team Machine Boxing Club gym, in Toronto, under the tutelage of Daniel Ford, Chad Griffiths, and Matt Ford, had boosted his fitness, speed and ring craft.
“My work rate is a lot higher, I’ve gotten stronger, and probably a bit quicker, too,” he said.
Griffiths said the training team believed that being a power puncher wasn’t enough.
“Work rate and speed,” Grifiths said. “It’s something that all of his trainers are working on.”
Griffiths tells the story of an experienced national-level boxer who emerged from a sparring sessions with Maskell impressed by the young man’s weapons.
“The bloke he sparred with said ‘I’ve never been hit so hard. And it’s not one punch. They just keep coming’,” Griffiths said.
Maskell will contest a Global League International Boxing Incorporated title at Nyngan RSL and Civic Club on Saturday, November 3. He’ll take on Bathurst boxer Mitchell Stevens.
Maskell will then step up his preparations for the Australian Amateur Boxing Championships, in Hobart, from November 28.
Meanwhile, Lake Macquarie professional boxer Manyang Dut has joined the Team Machine Boxing Club gym.
The unbeaten Dut, 24, of Kilaben Bay, will have his third professional bout in Sydney on November 17.
