JERSEY’S talented up-and-coming boxer Jack Genee will be taking on the biggest test yet of his young career so far, as he’ll be competing in the Global Glove Box Cup this weekend.
Taking place at the renowned Hideout Arena in Bolton, 400 boxers will be testing their mettle against some of the best around, across the Schoolboy/Girl, Junior, Youth and Senior categories. Spectators won’t be short on action, with a grand three-ring set-up hosting some promising bouts.
The Global Glove Box Cup has surely lived up to its name looking at the entries, as competitors will be descending on Bolton from across the world. Boxers will be coming in from England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Italy, United States of America and Jersey.
Genee will be travelling over as Jersey’s lone representative on this international stage to compete at 44kg, and it’s fair to say he’s ready to make an impact in the tournament’s inaugural year.
“I feel ready to put on a good performance, as it’s the tournament’s first year I don’t really know what to expect, but I’m confident that I’ll adapt and figure them out in the ring,” said Genee.
“The approach I’ll be taking is to focus on and try implement what I’ve learned recently in the ring, with that being mostly on components such as foot placement, stance and controlling the range.
His coach, George Adams, added: “Training has all been about preparing for everything and anything, as you don’t know who you’re facing in competitions like this. We’ve worked a lot on fitness and have started doing cross-fit training with Andrei Ciobanu who’s been a great help, as well as altering the training plan slightly to focus more on conditioning.”
It’s been a busy couple months for the young prodigy, as he’s coming into this huge event off the back of two successful trips abroad, to England and Scotland, where he visited several high-level boxing gyms to learn, evolve and refine his craft.
First off was the trip to England, which was huge for his boxing development. The Caesarean began his journey in Leicester to spar with two high-level athletes at Leicester Lightning ABC, which was “evenly matched” to show Genee is more than capable to compete at that level, before then heading to Gloucester.
There, he had the privilege to train at the renowned Truth Boxing Club, with one of the nation’s top coaches in Amin Khan and age-group world number one Jayden Price, who’s won three national championships, as well as the USA National Championship and boasts an impressive record of 82 wins and just three losses.
After doing drills, Genee got to do some technical sparring with Price, making their time at Truth Boxing Club a “great experience”.
“It was such a great experience to learn from one of the world’s best, I learned so many small tweaks from him that I’ve now applied to my boxing which has helped me improve,” Genee continued.
“The way Jayden (Price) moves his feet, as well as his positioning, is unbelievable. Everyone at the club was very welcoming, and it was definitely one of my boxing highlights so far.”
He then concluded his trip with sparring at Islington Boxing Club, which fellow Caesarean and national champion Charlie Corbel helped organise. There, Genee sparred with two London champions, as well as a national finalist.
His performance in the ring certainly made an impression, as Adams stated: “His sparring in Islington had to be the best I’ve seen him box, he just looked incredible against some of the nation’s top junior boxers.”
Following that successful trip, Genee and Adams then headed to Scotland in October, where the local phenom sparred with top boxers at Dundee’s St Francis Boxing Club, before sparring an older and bigger opponent at Hamilton ABC.
His trip to St Francis Boxing Club was aided by boxing legend Frank Gilfeather, who’s Noble Art bag mitt has been used by some of the sport’s top pound-for-pound global stars in undisputed heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk and Ring Magazine pound-for-pound number five Dmitry Bivol.
All this has seen Jersey’s young boxing star evolve his craft further, meaning that the best version of himself will be ready and “raring to go” this weekend.
