In reality, Finn Walsh has been crowned regional development champion before stepping into the ring, due to a shortage of competitors in the 57.5kg weight class.
That leaves just Emile Prevel and Tyler Quintal to contest this month’s Western Counties Development Championships, starting with their semi-finals this weekend.
‘It’s just luck of the draw,’ Guernsey Amalgamated Boxing Club head coach Ben Duff said.
‘When you’ve got that chance, you have to take it.
‘One year, you might have five to 10, and the next year you might have none.’
Walsh, Prevel and Quintal all have their sights on the Amdavad 2030 Commonwealth Games, which with Niall Adams targeting a return, makes up the tally of four boxers the GABC are aiming to send.
65kg competitor Quintal is already a Western Counties development champion, having won his category last year, while Prevel’s excellent 13-1 record sets him up nicely for his shot at this year’s 62.5kg crown.
The Western Counties finals will take place in Bath on Saturday 26 September.
Success will progress the boxers to next month’s National Development Championships, which like their regional equivalents allow only boxers with fewer than 20 bouts to compete.
Come next year, Duff is hoping for strong Guernsey representation in the elite-level National Amateur Championships.
The GABC’s plan to prepare for the 2030 Commonwealths will also include, for the first time in more than a decade, Sarnians competing at mainland European Box Cups.
This comes alongside the club finally achieving a £1m. fundraising target to perform renovations that will benefit boxers across the board.
But there is no doubt that the four Commonwealths hopefuls now have plenty of hard graft ahead of them.
‘It’s exciting. There’s a lot of hard work between now and then,’ Duff said.
‘It’s a case of knuckling down.
‘This gives them a four-year plan and a goal at the end of the four years, which will hopefully give them the drive and motivation to keep developing.’
The long absence of Beau Sejour boxing shows will be broken by a Guernsey v. Western Counties event on 17 October. This October Fight Night will utilise the David Ferguson Hall.
