St Paul’s Collegiate School student Seb Ellice (Year 13) won the national under-18 welterweight boxing title on 23 July in Rotorua after beating New Zealand representative Hosen Watson.
This is the second national title for the young boxer who won the under-16 light welterweight under-64kg title last year after getting into the sport for “something different.”
Seb started training and competing after losing interest in rugby and cricket.
“I needed a challenge and something different. I had been playing rugby and cricket my whole life so decided on boxing and ended up loving it,” Seb said.
He says he has spent the past couple of years “training hard” and the results speak for themselves.
Although the Year 13 student is clearly a boxing talent, this will be his last fight for the foreseeable future. Seb says his focus moving forward is purely academic.
“I am just focusing on study for the rest of the year and then I’ll be at Victoria University studying law next year so I don’t think I will be fighting for a while.”
He is also an avid runner who placed second overall and first his division (under-20 mens’) in the 6km event at Hamilton Round the Bridges last year.
