By Luke Sheehan
TARNEIT Boxing Gym has a new Australian champion in Deer Park’s Omar Kimweri, winning his Australian flyweight title fight in a blistering first-round knock-out of Queensland’s Matt Meredith at Cranbourne Racecourse on Saturday.
Trainer Dave Hegarty said Kimweri was devastating in his comprehensive victory in the title fight.
“I said to Omar, ‘Mate, don’t show this kid any respect, jump on him, get out there, go hard’, and he did it all right, he put the kid to sleep in 51 seconds,” he said.
The Australian flyweight title had been on the Tarneit trainer’s wish list for some time now.
“That’s the only title in my gym that I’ve wanted for years, to have an Australian champion in the pros, and to get one, was really good.”
Hegarty said the crowd of about 2500 stood to the Australian national anthem prior to the fight, and Kimweri, who was born in Tanzania and came to Australia in 2006, used the build-up to get into gear for the fight.
“He idolises this country, and they played the national anthem and everyone’s stood up, and you could just see the goose bumps on him, and to go out and win in the fashion he did, he really got emotional for it.”
Hegarty said Kimweri was starstruck at the attention he received from the crowd after the fight.
“He was a bit of a celebrity, everyone wanted photos and autographs, and he didn’t know how to take it, he was looking at me, I said, ‘Enjoy it, lap it up, you’re an Australian champion now’.”
The gym also had Daniel Iannazzo fighting a six-round bout against Lertsila Singmanasak, whose professional record stood at five wins, six losses before the fight.
Iannazzo was quick to make it seven losses for Singmanasak, according to Hegarty.
“Daniel hit him with everything, and they eventually ended up stopping it in round five because Daniel was going to hurt this boy, he was very, very classy.”
The win extended Iannazzo’s professional record to 16 wins, and no losses.
Hegarty said Iannazzo’s next fight on 18 March would be a big test for the Taylors Lakes fighter.
