11-26-2007, 10:07 AM
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#1
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Monzon-like
ESB Addict
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Edinburgh
Posts: 2,985
vCash: 484
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Golden Gloves Champ from Aberdeen, Scotland...
...thats pure class, the first time the Yanks open the doors to non americans, and a young scot from my home city of Aberdeen wins the featherweight in their own back yard.
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12:00 - 24 November 2007
From despair to world champion - Aberdeen's Darren Traynor owes his life to boxing.
The Aberdeen featherweight has become Britain's first-ever winner of the prestigious Golden Gloves world championship.
The 21-year-old has gained immortality by joining ring legends like Muhammad Ali and Rocky Marciano on the list of Golden Gloves winners.
But it could have been so different for the fighter who admits he had 'one foot in the gutter' before being saved by boxing.
Drinking heavily by the age of 12, he nearly lost his right arm in a horrific stabbing at 14.
"If it hadn't been for boxing I would probably be lying face down in a gutter somewhere," he said. "Or in jail!
"I was a real rogue before I took up boxing, I admit that. I had definitely got into bad ways.
"Boxing saved me because a lot of my friends from that time are either dead, in prison or on drugs.
"At just 14 I was stabbed and the knife went clean through my arm, coming out the other side.
"Although it missed the major arteries there was still the fear I could lose it,'' he said, glancing down at his arm.
The scar is still there, a purple welt running down his arm, a visible memory of his past and reminder of the path he could have taken.
"The boy who stabbed me regrets what he did, he knows it was the biggest mistake of his life.
"But that is all in the past, it is another life. Now I am the Golden Gloves champion, that is all that matters."
A double Scottish featherweight champion, Darren travelled to Minnesota, USA as part of a 10 strong British team.
The Granite City Boxing Club star was the only one to return with a title.
For the first time the Golden Gloves was open to the rest of the world, with the new World Club Championship up for grabs.
And at the Casino Hinckley, Minnesota, he stunned a large audience by defeating one of America's top rising fighters, Craig Butler, on points.
"I should have stopped the American because I rattled him early on, but it was a great fight that went the distance," he said.
"It was the first time I had ever fought an American and it was a very tough fight. Before our final he had defeated an Irish boxer, knocking him out in the second round.
"He had hurt the Irish fighter pretty badly and to be honest I was pretty wary going into the ring thinking, 'Oh no, I hope he doesn't knock me out'.
"But once I climbed into the ring I just realised I had to go for it, I wanted that belt so much.
"Winning the Golden Gloves was an unbelievable feeling."
During his prestigious career in the unpaid ranks, Darren has claimed glory all around the world.
One of Britain's most travelled fighters, he recently claimed medal glory in Canada and Poland.
Now top of the world, he has his sights set on next year's Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
"My target is to get to the Commonwealth Games in India.
"Through boxing, my life is so much better and beyond anything I could have ever dreamed of.
"Boxing has got me off the street, channels my aggression and keeps me focused. Life is good."
WBU lightweight world champion Lee McAllister said: "The Granite City Boxing Club keeps producing champions. To go over to America and beat their best fighters in their own yard is a tremendous achievement."
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Take that America.
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??Whats he on about?
