By James Bovington
Bramley’s Cole Chapman is delighted to have become a Thai Boxing British champion at 34 kg.
Cole secured his win at a major show organised by veteran Leeds Thai boxer Liam Harrison’s Hitman fight League at Testbed in Hunslet.
Horsforth brothers Finlay and Fergus Smith, also from Cole’s Bramley based gym, Bad Company, won title belts.
Dad Nick said: “He’d been preparing for a couple of hours a day five days a week with his coaches Richard Smith and his wife Lisa and Joe Craven,.
“He was excellently prepared as they know exactly how to get the best out of him. Cole performs better both mentally and physically when under pressure when he knows he has a job to do.
“He took this fight just coming off a close points loss in March so knew that he had a lot to prove this time. Cole rose to the occasion and ‘kicked the show off in style’ according to Liam Harrison.”
Harrison began his Thai boxing training at Bad Company. ‘”his is where I first fell in love with the sport.
“Finlay Smith’s victory over Irish fighter Faisal Azimi was ‘a textbook display of what Muay Thai is about. Finlay’s toughest match to date as Faisal made him bite down on his gum shield and go on the attack especially the last two rounds.
“That won the bout and the 63.5 kg WMO European title for Finlay. Everyone should be proud of Horsforth lad Finlay who at 21 juggles intensive training alongside his university course and coaching commitments. It was incredible to see him pushed to his limits and pull it out of the bag.”
Eighteen-year-old Fergus Smith made light work of WMO’s highly experienced Spanish champion André Fernandez.
He said: “I put him on the canvas twice using a teep, or kick, I’d been working on just days before in a fight seminar. Two such kicks and I’d ended the fight and won the WMO European title at 53.5 kgs.”
Harrison commended the younger Smith brother for ‘demonstrating the skills that make him dominant in this 53.5 kg weight division in which he could soon lead the British rankings’.
Cole is looking forward to competing as part of Team England in an international youth competition to be held in the Italian city of Verona over four days from 25 June.
The national team will be led by the Smiths and Cole is apparently moving up a weight class to compete and hopefully win at 36kg.
“It’s been a great sports season for Cole,’” explained dad Nick.”He also loves football and his team Whitkirk Wanderers won their league cup the day after his title fight so what a memorable weekend for him.”