Young's Enja Prest is an Australian amateur boxing champion.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The 28-year-old secured the 67-71kg women's division title at the Australian Amateur Boxing Championships on Saturday night at the Croatian Club at Punchbowl, Sydney.
It was Prest's first Australian championships appearance.
She also collected the Fighter of the Tournament prize, winning Thursday's elimination bout and Friday's semi-final on her way to championship glory.
Close to 150 amateur fighters participated to make it one of the biggest Australian championships held.
Six women made up Prest's division.
The former Hennessy Catholic College student began boxing in 2016 while living in Dubbo, and is now based at Gunnedah and is a personal trainer and boxing instructor.
"It's definitely the biggest title of my career so far. I've won a novice NSW title and a trans-Tasman but this is easily my biggest achievement," Prest said.
"I'm very tired at the moment, but it has sunk in. We've worked really hard all year to achieve this, it's been our focus."
The Australian Amateur Boxing Championships have been on Prest's radar since the beginning of the year.
She said it was one of the harder preparations she's had as her team found it difficult to schedule fights.
"We tried to have at least six or eight week camp leading in. This time we did a fair bit of harder sparring as I haven't had a lot of fights this year because I've become harder to match," she said.
"So we did a lot of intense sparring to replicate a fight atmosphere. I also did a lot of short, sharp work on the pads, strength and conditioning and yoga to improve balance and control."
Prest was born in Young and spent time at Wombat Public School and St Mary's Primary School before attending Hennessy Catholic College.
Involved in horse racing growing up, Prest has ridden track work for various trainers at Young, Randwick and Scone and most recently Dubbo for trainer Connie Greig.
She's spent the past 12 months living at Gunnedah purely focused on boxing.
She fights out of Black N Blue Boxing Gunnedah and is trained by David Syphers and Wade Ryan.
She said turning professional is something she could consider in the future.
"I'd like to turn professional, that'd be pretty cool. My coach has confidence in me and was really pleased with my performance over the weekend. I'd need the support and coaches," Prest said following her weekend win.
She's also a personal trainer at Gunnedah Health and Fitness Co.
Prest has now had 17 amateur boxing bouts.
READ ALSO: Ziggy Rocks edges rivals
READ ALSO: Veterans Week of Golf
