One of Two Rivers Boxing Club’s newest fighters has his first match under his belt, after going to toe-to-toe in Richmond on Jan. 26.
Jacob Wight, 14, was not expecting to have an official bout.
The skilled southpaw was told he would be fighting an exhibition match, think glorified sparring, but minutes before he was scheduled to make his walk-out, he was informed the three-round bout would be counted as a fight.
He matched up Griffins Boxing Club’s William Veroni, a taller fighter with a longer reach, in a fight contested at 95 pounds.
“I was really nervous until I got in there,” says Wight.
“But as soon as I was in the ring, I felt so much better.”
Despite being on the short-end of a decision, Wight says he was able to do a lot of good things against his opponent.
“Just pushing him into the corners and getting him on the inside seemed to work,” he says.
The Two Rivers scrapper landed a nice combination that he had been working a lot on in training too.
“”I slipped the hook, hit him with a hook to the body and then landed the uppercut.”
Veroni was a southpaw too, meaning his power hand is his left. Wight is mostly used to fighting right handed fighters, so the transition was a little difficult.
“It felt a lot different,” he says. “It was a lot harder getting under his jabs, especially since he was so much taller.”
Wight is not letting the loss deter him from getting right back into the ring.
In fact, he is hoping to get a rematch with Veroni at an upcoming event at his opponent’s home gym on Saturday, Feb. 9.
“I think I’m going to feel way more comfortable in there,” Wight says.
“I want to lead him into the corner and they to push him back and go for the TKO.”
Wight’s coach, Wally Doern, who has been training the young fighter since September, says he would like Wight to use his head movement more effectively and throw more combos.
He has the utmost confidence in the scrapper to put on a good show, however.
“Jacob’s always very game,” he says.
“He’s a go-getter.”
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