LADD’S Boxing Club’s Gab Toutai had a hard-fought win in his first foray at light heavyweight.
Unable to find a match at his native 67kg, Toutai stepped up two weight classes to face 75kg pressure fighter Victor Goubel in Melbourne on Sunday.
Gab, who turns 19 this Friday, employed slick footwork, a sharp jab and vicious body work to narrowly outpoint his opponent in a “cat and mouse” bout.
“It was a tough fight, the guy was older, 23 years of age, very muscular and it came down to a split decision which could’ve gone either way,” coach Steve Ladd said.
“It got messy at times because the guy wouldn’t stop coming forward, but Gab was the cleaner boxer and that’s what won him the fight.
“The game plan was to keep the defence tight, I said to Gab ‘don’t get caught with silly shots, if he is in close bring your elbows in and keep a watertight defence’.
“Gab rocked him at one point and then the guy threw an uppercut and rocked Gab back, it was a tough fight.”
Ladd previously told the Sunraysia Daily this was a test to see how Toutai would perform at the higher weights.
“I feel confident with him at 71kg,” he said.
“At 75kg, there are some big boys so I’m not 100 per cent sold on that weight yet but there is a lot of learning to be done.
“I wanted this fight to set him up for our training camp to get him ready for the strong 71kg fighters.
“We want to make him stronger, but we don’t want to put muscle on because it can slow you down.
“We will do skill training so he can fight better at that weight.
“We will work on his power shots, but we don’t want to affect any of his flamboyant movement because that is an asset to him.”
Ladd said Toutai would now have a few weeks off over Christmas before preparing for a big 2024.
