Belts next on Miles' 'journey'

North Lakes' Miles Zalewski now has championship belts in his sights after a third successive victory in his boxing comeback.

The 31 year old from the All Star Boxing Academy at PCYC Pine Rivers, stopped former world kickboxing champion Joey Baylon at Fortitude Valley on Saturday.

An upper cut from Zalewski put Baylon down in the third round of their fight set at 60kg. Baylon beat the count, but the referee soon stopped the contest.

'Really sharp'

“Miles executed the fight plan well and looked really sharp,” said his trainer Ben Harrington, from the All Star Boxing Academy.

“We’re hoping to hear in the next two or three weeks on his next fight. Perhaps for a regional belt.”

Zalewski said on Facebook: “We need to stay busy and I trust the journey I’m on with the team I have! Super featherweight rankings here we come.”

Back in business

It is all part of the New Zealand-born boxer’s “unfinished business”, having ‘retired’ in 2015 with seven wins from eight fights. “I was over it,” he said. “I never thought I’d come back.

Zalewski lived in Thailand for two years and worked for the United Nations doing videos of its projects but admitted: “It never sat right with me leaving as I did.

“I kept in touch with Benny (Harrington) and the boys. They encouraged me to come back. I knew I had unfinished business.”

Natural weight

Zalewski was in the 61kg lightweight division but is dropping to super featherweight and feels this is his “natural weight”.

“In my time off I shrank,” he says, “I lost muscle because I wasn’t training as much as I used to. Now I’m back with a different team, this is my natural weight.

His manager Phil Murphy, from Oxmar Properties, agreed: “He does have to make the most of the years he has, but because of that break it extend his career.”

All Star Boxing Academy welcomes anyone from the age of five to adult wishing to take up boxing at its PCYC Pine Rivers gym. Further details are on the academy’s Facebook page.