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Kavinda Herath/Stuff
Southland boxer Jesse Hawken won the NZ Boxing Championships in Tauranga earlier this month.
Southland boxer Jesse Hawken is not far from realising his innermost dream, competing at the Paris 2024 Olympics, which is why he picked up the nickname The Southern Dream.
The Invercargill-based middleweight won the Boxing New Zealand National Championships 2023 in Tauranga on July 8, and was now on the path to gaining a spot in the New Zealand Olympic team.
The nickname reflected his southern background, which Hawken said should not stop anyone from chasing their own dreams – even when they come from one of the southernmost points in the world.
“One of the aliases I came up with is The Southern Dream and I think it encompasses what I am about, which is chasing your individual dream in the place you are from,” he said.
Hawken said a mate from work came up with the name, then he liked it and built it up on meaning.
“I think in Southland a lot of people don’t try to pursue things just because we are from Southland and we are at the bottom of the world.
“We are looked at as the underdogs all the time [but] I think with a lot of hard work and dedication to your craft you can achieve anything, that’s why I liked The Southern Dream.”
In Tauranga, Hawken had three fights to win in the middleweight category to become national champion.
Kavinda Herath/Stuff
Hawken trains under the watchful eye of coach Russell Newton, the NZ middleweight champion in 1982 and 1983.
The first fight against Timothy Max ended up with a first-round knock-out. In the second, against Josef Jacob, he didn’t concede a single round. The final fight was a rematch with Neame Taufa Lavemaau, who Hawken had previously lost to in May.
”I got a chance to get some revenge on that,” he said.
Hawken said as he does not drink, he celebrated his victory by going out for dinner.
“My wee celebratory thing is I go out and have a nice meal, I love food … and I have a massive sweet tooth, so we went and got some good desserts,” he said.
After returning to Invercargill, he said his coach Russel Newton got a call from the national team saying Hawken could compete in a small tournament next month, where he will fight three other boxers.
Kavinda Herath/Stuff
Hawken said he picked the name The Southern Dream because it encompassed what he was about – someone chasing their dream from the place they call home.
The winner gets the spot in the light-middleweight 71kg category.
If he made it to the national team, he would then travel to the Solomon Islands to compete in the 2023 Pacific Games, which for the first time in 60 years would count as a qualifier for the Olympics.
Hawken said he was open to potential sponsors, especially from the southern community
“The amount of people that were supporting me [in Tauranga] from down here was unreal.
“So many people that I haven’t even seen or talked to in a long time came out of the woodwork and congratulated me, and they said they were watching me and were proud of me.
“It was quite special for me to have that support. It was awesome,” he said.
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