Sport
7 May, 2025
Cloncurry fighter shows plenty of ticker in the ring
Adam Lawson stepped up when another fighter pulled out, despite being underprepared.
Cloncurry heavyweight boxer Adam Lawson is proof that a fighter’s true worth lay in his head and his heart.
Lawson did the North West proud on Sunday night when he stepped into the ring with only one week’s notice in the 120kg bout against Toowoomba’s Aaron Gemmell following a late withdrawal from the previous opponent.
Lawson admitted he hadn’t been training as hard as he should have been in the past few months and probably needed a bit more preparation time.
To make matters worse, his 11-month-old son needed to be hospitalised for a few days last week, which further reduced his training capacity.
Fortunately, his son is OK, and despite not walking away with the victory in only his second amateur bout, Lawson said he was pleased the crowds got to see a heavyweight fight go ahead.
“Cloncurry and Mount Isa are like family, so I wanted to do what I could to show some support,” he told North West Weekly.
“The crowd was just great and even though there weren’t too many people from Cloncurry there, we had lots of Mount Isa people coming over and shaking my hand after the fight and some even wanted to take a photo, which surprised me.
“And I had Sunny (Raitava) and Allan (Hazle) in my corner during the fight, so their experience really helped.”
Lawson has only been fighting for about 12 months, which he says was initially sparked by a desire to improve his fitness, as well as his mental strength.
But his boxing stepped up a gear about six months ago when one of his close mates took his own life.
“He was boxing as well and we had always been telling each other that we should be having a go and get into a proper boxing fight,” he said.
“So after he died I thought I should be taking this boxing more seriously and, about two months later, I had my first amateur fight in Townsville.”
Lawson trains mostly from a shed at his house where he has a punching bag hanging from the roof, a few bits and pieces of equipment and the old PCYC boxing ring, which he found abandoned at the local landfill.
Now he is hoping to set up his own boxing sessions in Cloncurry to help provide some direction for the youth in the town.
“Boxing needs commitment and I think that makes it a good thing for youth to do,” he said.
“You get better as you put the effort in. I think there a lot of young people who would respond to that message.”