Crucial step towards Commonwealth Games

Connor Campbell (left) with his opponent after the final of the King of the Ring in Sydney last week.

Connor Campbell has won gold at an international boxing tournament in Australia, the first  step in his quest to represent New Zealand at the Commonwealth Games in July.

The 18-year-old Taupō boxer is now competing at the World Boxing Cup in Brazil, the second stage in the selection process.

He travelled there straight after his Australian victory, though his journey hit a snag when he and the team missed a connecting flight and were held up at the Brazil airport at midnight.

"He's on the world stage now," says Powell Marshall, Campbell's coach at Nuxi’s Boxing Gym.

"If he gets selected for the Commonwealth Games, it's life changing for him."

The young boxer joined the elite category on January 1 this year, making him one of the youngest competitors at this level.

He could face opponents as old as 40 in Brazil, with most international boxers in their late 20s or early 30s.

Campbell won New Zealand championships from cadets through youth divisions before turning elite at just 18 — a year younger than typical, because his birthday is in December and boxers move up the grades based on the year they were born.

Of the six boxers New Zealand sent to Australia, only two won gold medals — Campbell and Morgan Henderson, a female boxer from the South Island.

Campbell has been training at Nuki’s since he was seven years old, when his parents sought an outlet for his energy.

"This is the only gym he's ever boxed for. We started up the kids class because of him."