WARRNAMBOOL boxer Bella Rantall’s state championship success was born out of lessons fighting above her weight class.
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The Rodney Ryan-coached teenager honed her skills against competitors up to eight kilograms heavier before returning to her 50-52 kilogram class to win on the Victorian stage on Sunday.
Rantall, 16, was awarded an unanimous win over Portland fighter Charli Mirtschin.
She credited her steep learning curve for helping her achieve the feat.
Ten of the Warrnambool College student’s 12 fights have been in higher weight classes and eight against Australian champions.
She’s had five career wins.
“I do have a lot of people at school ask me about my record – it’s what people see when they talk about it – but this is the first fight in my weight and age category,” Rantall said.
“I’d never for a second take back the fights I’ve had.
“It’s helped my boxing and made me a better fighter.
“Rude is there to push my training and fighting is about developing me and pushing me to see how far I can go.”
Rantall, who started boxing two years ago, said Mirtschin was a worthy opponent at state level.
“I’ve done sparring with her within the last few months,” she said.
“It (the fight) was a lot different to our sparring, a lot tougher. She came out hard.”
Rantall said the win justified the countless training hours she puts into boxing.
“I was really over the moon,” she said.
“I worked really, really hard for it over the last year or so. All my fights were leading up to nationals and I didn’t get a fight at nationals, so going into the state titles it really did mean a lot.”
Rantall, who credited coaches Ryan and Bess Slater for their commitment to the gym, said a strong morale at club level propelled her teammates to greater heights.
“You see a lot of boxers always talking about how it’s a lone sport,” she said.
“We have such a good friendship group within the gym at the moment.
“It is so awesome. There are 10 or 11 really good mates and we push each other a training.”
Rantall will join two of those teammates – Amy Gibbs and Dakotah Keane – at an Australian Institute of Sport meeting later this month. The camp will be her second this year at the Canberra-based high performance centre.
“At the last training camp we did a lot of skill-based and technique stuff while I think this training camp is a lot more competitive sparring,” she said.
“It will be a lot more ring work.”