Boxing coach praises fighter who has overcome huge injuries even just to compete

Rutherglen boxing coach Archie Durie has praised a young boxer’s will to compete, after having come through serious knee injuries.

Ross McNeil lost his first competitive contest by a unanimous 5-0 decision for Ollie Virtue at Chirnside last week, but Durie says the fight was a lot closer than the score suggests.

He also says the Rutherglen 11-year-old has come through big odds even to be able to fight.

Archie, who is head coach at Durie’s Boxing Club in Blairbeth, said: “Ross has had many operations on both his knees, has been in and out of hospitals for years and walking about on crutches, but this lad has a heart bigger than anyone in our gym.

“He has been coming to our gym for years now, and is boxing mad.

“His movement is slower because of his bad knees, and he needs special knee braces even just to be in the ring, but he has showed me for years how much he wanted to box for our club.

“There aren’t many coaches that would have got him registered to box for their clubs, but I saw something special in young Ross, so got him carded to box last year.”

Durie added: “He has attended training for every session going, and that was only his second time in the boxing ring, having fought an exhibition match with the same boy the last time.

“He lost by unanimous decision, but the score in no way shows how close the bout was.

“Ross did amazingly well, and I was super proud of him, as was his other coach, Jamie Durie.

“I’ve seen Ross in pain, rolling around the ring in our club at Durie’s, so to watch him compete in a really hard contest was great and the whole club is proud of him.”

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