THE INTERNATIONALS ARE COMING
​VALERIY OVSYANNIKOV (UKRAINE)
2018 Pan Pacific Masters Games Boxin - Kirra Sports Club QLD
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My experience of participating in Pan Pacific Masters Games 2018 in Australia at the Gold Coast was outstanding. With this event I have decided to mark my 50th birthday and it really was worth it!
I was truly stunned with the atmosphere of the event. I was a guest, a new-comer, and felt a bit shy upon the arrival. However I was met cordially by such legends as Jack Boote and Denis Cherry. I remember that Denis found me a trainer to be in my corner during the fight. And Jack met me just minutes before my fight. It was really funny – I showed up at the event just a couple of fights before my own fight, and Jack looked at me like I was some looney! 😊 Actually the idea was to save some nerves, as according to my experience, the more you stay at the ringside waiting for your bout, the more excited you become. And it’s better to enter the ring more or less cold-blooded.
It was just a few days of the event at Kirra Beach but it will stay in my memory as one of the best happenings in my life. The world of Australian masters boxing is filled with genuine emotions, respect, brotherhood and solidarity. I remember voices outside the ring during my fights, and they are voices of support and cheering up of both fighters. It goes without saying that Pan Pacs 2018 were organized on the highest level, everything was planned professionally and wholeheartedly.
The only thing I regret is that I spent so little time in the local boxing community – all of these people are unique characters with certain story and life baggage behind and it would be great to learn more about each boxing mate. But I hope there is still a chance to hit the porch of some Australian boxing club for a new event.
PETER LINES (England)
2022 Pan Pacific Masters Games Boxing - Surfers Paradise Golf Club QLD 2022
BOXING IN A WINTER WONDERLAND
Peter Lines is a WBF World Title holder, British Army Champion, WBF Masters European Champion, Pan Pacific Masters Games Gold Medallist, AMB World Masters Champion, and Ex Royal Army Physical Training Corps Instructor.
Anyone who was at the final day of the 2022 Pan Pacific Masters Games Boxing on the Gold Coast will remember Peter Lines for his Gold Medal / Bout of the Tournament-winning masterclass in boxing, and the celebrations afterwards, with his support team belting out their version of 'Walking in a Winter Wonderland'.
We caught up with Peter Lines in Rietburg Germany in September 2023, where Team UK and Team Oceania were competing for WBF World Titles at the European Masters Cup.
"You don't stop boxing when you get old, you get old when you stop boxing."
Having stopped boxing in his 30s, thinking he was too old, Peter Lines later discovered masters boxing and renewed his passion for the sport with a slew of successes in Europe and Australia. While searching for 'masters boxing' online, Peter came across Australia's Pan Pacific Masters Games, which led to his participation at the 2022 tournament. He was impressed with the sense of community and lack of egos (which is a common reaction amongst international competitors when they first experience Australian masters boxing), and commented that "The tournament was amazing and I was made to feel really welcome."
Peter Lines has been integral to the establishment of masters boxing in the UK, which until recently had no official Masters Boxing organisations or masters specific tournaments. Having had a familiar experience with traditional boxing orgs, whereby fight opportunities vanish once boxers reach 30 years of age, Peter and his loyal team of supporters at Thunder Boxing are surging ahead, competing internationally and having just announced their first international 2-day tournament on home soil to be held in Portsmouth England. A UK Masters show is slated for February 2024 in the lead up, with the UK organisers looking forward to hosting masters boxers from all over the world, including Australia, in June 2024.
It takes a huge level of commitment and a lot of team work to create a ground swell of opportunities like this. Congratulations to Peter Lines and everyone at Thunder Boxing.
The following is an excerpt from an article titled 'Thunder Physical Training's Hampshire based boxing team celebrates success at competition in Germany' by Kelly Brown, The News (Portsmouth) 11th October 2023
A group of enthusiastic amateur boxers have been celebrating success after taking part in a competition in Germany.
The team of eight Hampshire boxers from Thunder Physical Training, led by former Army Boxer Peter Lines, took part in the Germany Masters Cup coming away with two golds, four silvers, one bronze and an AMB world title from the weekend of competitions – with Mr Lines along those who were victorious.
The success follows the growing ambitions of the Thunder boxers – part of the Boot Camp UK organisation – who began their journey just a few short years ago by taking part in taster sessions organised by Mr Lines.
Team spokesperson Charlotte Brighton explained: “He put on a training camp for them and was immensely proud of how quickly they learned the fundamentals and shared his keen interest of the sport. He often speaks of how the best part of it all is seeing his boxers improve day by day. He has held a few inter bootcamp boxing nights which have been a huge success so he took those boxers who showed skill, to fight alongside him at the Germany masters cup.”
Mrs Brighton said the team was thrilled with its performance – as well as its support.
“One thing that stood out to other teams from around the globe, was our support and incredible team ethic.” she said. “It was an incredible weekend.” She said that Mr Lines was a real inspiration for the team, showing that boxing is not just for those people who are in their 20s.
“Pete was in the army for 13 years and did boxing within it at regimental level,” she said. “He won REME, unit and army boxing championships and got selected as a member of the full time elite army boxing team podium squad but once in his 30s he stopped boxing as felt he was too old. Most of the boxers were in their 20s. But he later discovered masters boxing, an organisation for boxers age 30+. That’s when he decided he could revisit that passion for boxing, going on to win WBF European masters title and defend both in Germany. He won the gold medal at the Pan Pacific Masters Games in Australia and recently won the AMD world title.”
You can get across the activity going on in the UK by searching for and joining 'UK Masters Boxing' on Facebook.
SUE KNAUP (USA)
MBA Golden Gloves - Lone Star Tavern QLD - 2023
"Women and girls are told not to fight. That's a huge disservice. I always wanted to box."
Sue Knaup is being celebrated by MBA as our first international female competitor. Having registered as a 59 year old Open class Bantamweight fighter, Sue made her way (the long way, she likes to make the trip worthwhile) from her home in Arizona to the second MBA Golden Gloves, held on the Gold Coast on 3 and 4 November 2023.
From an early age Sue Knaup (pronounced 'Nap') was drawn to boxing. She just thought it was a 'beautiful' sport. Like her boxing favourite Mike Tyson said, "You have to do the right thing at the right time". Sue liked that in boxing, you're on your own and must perform. (Conversely, Sue did not like karate, which she tried, and thought was "awful".)
Then, in 2016, fate intervened. Grind Boxing Gym moved into her neighbourhood, just 5 minutes down the road from Sue's house. Around the same time she was competing in tennis "and yet still gained weight", sitting at 152lb (69kg), a lot on her small frame. So she thought... I'm gonna try this fitness boxing place. Expecting disco music and what we call a 'boxercise' class, Sue reluctantly pushed through the door and the glass ceiling to her future as a female boxer. That first night the Grind coach, Jarek Slagowski, taught jabs and crosses. "He would stop you if you weren't doing it right and make sure you were." In a state of amazement, Sue asked at the end of the class, "Is this a real boxing gym?" to which the emphatic reply was "Of course!". From then on, coach and boxer developed a tight bond and worked together on boxing fitness and competition bouts in Arizona, Southern California, San Jose, Atlanta, Brooklyn NYC, New Jersey, and Las Vegas, only ending when Grind Boxing Gym moved some 40 minutes away.
Which leads us to why Sue Knaup has travelled all the way to Australia to experience Australian masters boxing. Sue explains that in the US masters boxing is sanctioned by USA Boxing with little support for experienced masters the norm. Having noticed Australian masters boxing coming up all the time on Google searches, Sue began noticing that masters boxing was really thriving in Australia. Especially female masters boxing, a category that has in her words "stagnated" in the US, with most focus on male boxers. Sue feels that there should be more focus on women in "such a beautiful sport".
Sue leads an international NGO (non-profit) for bicycle activists called 'One Street' and enjoys a stable life in Prescott Arizona with her husband and two dogs, but that wasn't always the case. She left home as a teenager because of a "dysfunctional" family, at times living as a "homeless, hobo type person". Living on the street, confrontations occurred but never led to fights. So at age 52, when she started boxing, it was the first time she found the freedom to fight. And now, here she is in Australia, showing the way and opening the door for other female boxers from all parts of the world to broaden their horizons. What a story of fortitude, determination, and success.
Touching on her experience at the MBA Golden Gloves, Sue is typically forthcoming. She believes that a tournament like ours would have been cancelled in the States, facing such challenges in the final week prior. Here, when she walked into the briefing, there were people stepping up to help and real teamwork in action, with everybody picking up the pieces where and when needed, which impressed her enormously. She found a supportive community from the top down.
When asked if she has any advice for female boxers, her answer is insightful and wise:
"Behave and consider yourself as a boxer, not a woman, not old. Train like a boxer, just do it, take that level of respect for the sport. Don't let coaches or gyms treat you like a second class boxer. Say, 'if I don't duck, hit me'. We are boxers and we need to behave like boxers and get that level of response."
After fighting at the MBA Golden Gloves, Sue Knaup travelled to Melbourne to compete at MBV's Master Blasters tournament on November 25th.
