THE father of newly-crowned British youth lightweight champion, Conor McCallum, admitted today he feared for his son's safety when he saw England's Lewis Adolpha climb through the ropes to dispute the 60kgs title.
Gilmerton starlet McCallum, 16, emerged triumphant from the 1992 class bout in Cardiff but dad John says the sight of knockout specialist Adolpha initially had him worried.
McCallum senior, a former boxer himself, explained: "Adolpha was heavily m
uscled and huge compared to Conor who looked like a lamb to a slaughter as he isn't particularly big.
"The English lad must have thought he would just walk out and knock out Conor for he charged out and threw a massive right hand but, seconds after swiping thin air, Conor knocked him into the ropes with a peach of a left hook.
"From then on, I knew that Conor could handle the guy so winning the gold medal in the end was no surprise."
McCallum's Gilmerton club boss, Rab Young, added: "Conor's great attitude to training and his intelligent response to coaching advice have paid off , just look at his career achievements.
"He has won titles at Eastern or Scottish level every year since 2002 and has also beaten two Canadian champions on their Ontario home patch – Jesse Wilcox and Jason Chevarin, four times.''
"Then he recently knocked out Irish European champion, Michael Reilly, in three rounds in Fife in an international.
"Overall, he has won 48 out of 53 bouts since he started boxing and never been knocked out.
"You can see why we are all so excited about his prospects.
"Conor is shy, self-effacing kid outside the ropes and boxers tend to underestimate him because he looks so harmless. But like Adolpha, they soon discover that looks are very deceiving."
Conor paid tribute to his Dad, Young and Scottish national coach Peter Harrison for their input to his ring success, saying: "My Dad introduced me to boxing when I was ten while Rab Young is great working on the punchpads with me and discussing moves.
"I want to listen because I know I can become an even better boxer in the future, especially as I have set myself targets to box in the Commonwealth Games and the Olympic Games in 2012.
"National Scottish youth coach Peter Harrison must get some credit for me winning the British title in Cardiff as he is a great motivator and had been working with me on moves and strategy, twice a week, in the Gilmerton gym, before I went to Cardiff.
"I'd also like to pay tribute to my Gilmerton clubmates and fellow champions, John Thain and Josh Taylor and others who made sure I was sharp for Cardiff by providing me with quality sparring.
"John and Josh are classy boxers who really push me to produce my best in our sparring sessions.
"But apart from that, I'd say that one of my great ring strengths is my ability to tailor my style to fit the kind of opponent that I'm up against.
"I knew from Lewis Adolpha's attitude just before the opening bell that he was going to race out and try to blow me away so I banged him first with stiff punches in the opening minutes of our fight and I could see that upset him."
The full article contains 565 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
