WARRNAMBOOL's newest professional boxer is looking to a bright future on the professional circuit after making a mark in his debut fight.
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Brian Agina dismantled opponent Robert Lale in the first round of his Melbourne Pavilion bout on Saturday night, a reward for months of preparation with Kelp Street-based trainer Rudy Ryan.
Ryan said Agina was "clinical".
"The game plan was to go out pretty hard and work hard in the first round and see what the other bloke came back with," he said.
"Brian got him in a bit of trouble early and he just built on that momentum and ended up stopping the guy. The ref stopped it about one minute and 20 seconds into the first round.
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"He got his rewards for some hard work." Ryan said Agina - dubbed the 'Windy City Mamba' as homage to his Kenyan heritage and Warrnambool residence - would look ahead to his second bout likely in the autumn.
"He can build off this now. We had a lot of people from Warrnambool come down for the first fight," he said.
"The pro ranks is a hard game. There's a lot to it but we're up for the fight as it were and hopefully he'll get better fights going forward and do himself and the town and everyone proud." Ryan, an experienced mentor, said Agina was full of potential.
"He's still only 21. There's a lot of learning and growing to be done in the next few years. We won't rush it," he said.
"He wants to get back in there pretty quickly so touch wood we'll get it done, hopefully around April or something like that.
"He's coming from the amateurs where it's very much a point scoring business. He's got to learn on that finishing a bit as he did on the weekend but he'll have to be more on top of that. The pro game is taxing on the body so he has to continue to get his body right."
Ryan and Agina thanked the talent's sponsors.
He said tiler Jye Clark and several people from Agina's workplace, Clinton Baulch Motor Group, purchased a table to watch the event and thanked them for their support.
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Nick Ansell
Nick Ansell is a sports journalist at the Warrnambool Standard.
Nick Ansell is a sports journalist at the Warrnambool Standard.
