HAMISH Berry has walked away victorious from the boxing ring at the Dom Polski Centre in Adelaide once again after securing qualification for the 2025 Australian Schools Championships winning both of his bouts last weekend.
The 15-year-old fighting phenom and a product of Ladd’s Boxing Club gym delivered two clean cut triumphs at the under 19s nationals selection event for state, guaranteeing his place at the Australian titles to be held in Darwin from Tuesday, September 30 to Friday, October 3.
The nationals will mark Berry’s third successive trip to the titles, as the young boxer has shown continual growth in the eight years he has been mastering the art and sport.
Two other fighters fought under the Ladd boxing banner in 12 year-olds Jayden Rhead and Jacob Mosatti.
Rhead went up against Robbie Hassan in the 40kg category which was a tight physical encounter where the Mildura based boxer showed determined improvements despite a narrow defeat.
Mosatti fought Danny Rende in a 46kg contest that was awarded junior bout of the night.
Although the result wasn’t handed to Mosatti’s corner, he tested Rende, who holds Queensland Golden Gloves experience, in thrilling fashion during a back and forth affair.
“For both Jacob and Jayden, they fight like kids that have got at least five or six fights’ experience,” said boxing coach Jackson Ladd.
“They’re kids who have only had one, two fights, so it’s good to see their performance.
“They did do an exhibition at the start of the year which probably helps with that ring energy as well.”
Rhead will be joining Berry in Darwin for nationals as he’s been monitored on the Boxing Australia radar all year, having visited one of their 2025 camps at the Australian Institute of Sport.
Berry’s immaculate weekend included wins against two former Golden Gloves participants in Hunter Carroll and Luke Francis.
“Both days were flawless, I reckon he wouldn’t have lost a single round,” said Ladd, Berry’s coach of eight years.
“The weekend went as best as it could, we moved him up to 57 kilos from 54 because he was cutting six kilos to make weight and then he was having to cut two kilos like three days before.
“We were thinking if he wins at nationals first day, he’s most likely going to have to fight three days at 54 which he won’t be able to maintain.
“So, we went over to Adelaide, had two clean wins and qualified for nationals and Hamish is tracking pretty well at the moment, everything is going good.”
The move up in weight has not hindered the effective skills in Berry’s boxing repertoire, as Ladd emphasised the technical maturity he possesses despite constantly facing bigger opponents.
“His ability to hit and not get hit has been a real strength and how he can control a fight,” said Ladd.
“He’s always been a smaller fighter, both kids last weekend were bigger than him, but he’s just physically stronger, able to control and had his way for the whole fight across both days.
“He’s never going to be in fights where your opponent doesn’t make you work, because it’s that style of fighting, there just power horses, they’ve got to keep punching and they’re not wasting time like heavyweights, you have to keep control all of the time.”
Berry’s 2025 campaign has been glittered with a host of highly credible wins alongside the two he picked up last weekend.
Earlier this year, Berry beat former Australian Schools Champion from Melbourne Cruz Oppy and Sydney’s Jamie Tune to collect a recognised Boxing Australia futures belt.
This, on top of the experience of fighting in two previous nationals tournaments, puts Ladd’s fighter in good stead for a successful trip to the Northern Territory at the end of September.
“The experience of the first two years will pile into this year, that’s probably the biggest thing, his first year’s performance was really good, it was just the kids in his division were a lot bigger, but I think this year will be potentially the best year going,” said Ladd.
“We’ll do more sparring, more strength training, working on his weight, not a lot really changes for us in terms of preparation.
“The longer you stay around this sport, the more people you’ll see come and go, the more opportunities you get, and I’ve had him since he was eight, in that time there’s probably been 200, 300 kids that have been through these doors, even in other gyms too, they come and they go.
“So, I think he’ll be able to do well as long as everything goes his way on the day.”
