Boxing ring on the cards for Bells Beach next year

Andrew Mathieson
A TORQUAY boxing trainer wants to stage boxing bouts on Bells Beach during next year’s Rip Curl Pro.
The ambitious plan is to bring boxing back to the Surf Coast for the first time in five years.
Torquay Coastal and Boxing Fitness Gym’s Ashley Lynch said the “bash at the beach” could provide additional entertainment to Jan Juc’s international surfing event.
“We’d like to have it on Bells Beach at Easter time,” he said.
“Maybe the following year, but we plan to approach Rip Curl about that.”
Mr Lynch suggested boxers would fight in a ring on the beach, just metres from the world’s best surfers battling on the waves.
“We could have it right up where they have the bands at Bells Beach – it is just an idea,” he said.
Mr Lynch said the region’s boxing promoters would first test the waters in Torquay later this year.
A smaller promotion would be held some time after August, possibly at the Torquay Coastal Boxing and Fitness Gym, which could hold at least 300 patrons, he indicated.
The last local fight night was run at the Torquay Football Club.
“The next venue, well, who knows where it could be,” Mr Lynch said.
“It might even be at my gym because the gym is quite a big.”
Last month Mr Lynch promoted Torquay fighters with veteran Geelong West trainer Mick Murray at Norlane’s Centenary Hall.
Torquay has hosted two Golden Gloves and one amateur card in past years.