Boxing
Jalen Tait looks to Liam Paro for inspiration as he takes on Ibrahim Balla
Jalen Tait (right) lands a right hook on Alexander Espinoza (left) – Premier Boxing Series Photo
Jalen Tait (15-0, 8 KOs) moves up another notch when he takes on the resurgent Ibrahim Balla (16-2, 7 KOs) on Saturday night at the Southport Sharks AFL Club on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia.
The 23-year-old left-hander from Townsville in north Queensland has built a reputation as one of the country’s brightest teenage talents since turning professional almost five years ago, but boxing wasn’t always in his future.
You could say that fate pushed him towards the squared circle.
“I was bullied at school,” Tait told The Ring. “I was always petite, airy. I was an basic target, an basic target. It got to the point where I had to learn to defend myself because the bullying was so bad.
“I walked into a boxing gym and just happened to find out that I liked it. And then from that point on, it was really a blessing. I just kept going down that path.
“If I wasn’t being bullied, I wouldn’t even have to go to the boxing gym. Witty how things work out, right?”
Tait not only discovered that he liked boxing, he quickly learned that he was good at it. The naturally ambitious teenager enjoyed early success. In his first year as an amateur, he won the Golden Gloves, a state title, and a national crown.
“I just didn’t think I was going to wrestle when I walked into the gym,” Tait said. “I was just there in the off-season, for football, trying to stay in shape. I ended up enjoying the sparring and trying to wrestle. I went all the way my freshman year and it just clicked from there. I knew I wanted to do it.”
The success only increased his love for the sport and made him a fan of it.
Jalen Tait (left) attacks Alexandra Espinoza (right) – Premier Boxing Series Photo
“My first year of boxing, my dad and I were looking for left-handed boxers,” Tait said. “There were the obvious ones, Manny Pacquiao and stuff like that, but I always liked the old-school fighters, like Sugar Ray Leonard and guys from that era. So then we found Pernell Whitaker and we were like, ‘Who is this guy?’ The way he would throw punches and come back, throwing punches from crazy angles; he made boxing look fun and enjoyable. I really looked up to him from about 14 years elderly.”
Tait adopted some of Whitaker’s traits, but emulating the left-handed player’s unique movements wasn’t always basic.
“I would watch his YouTube videos every night before I went to bed and try to pick out little things he did that gave him a little edge over his opponents,” Tait explained.
“It was challenging. If I had an accident or something and had to do it all over again, no, I wouldn’t. It took me so long.”
The fight with Balla will be Tait’s second this year, following his victory over Ecuadorian Alexander Espinoza (18-2-1, 8 KOs) in a nationally televised event in March.
Tait controlled the early action in this fight with his speed and angles before Espinoza began to time him in the middle rounds. He regained control of the fight in the seventh round before a well-placed right hook from Espinoza dropped him in the ninth.
Tait survived the round to win via split decision 97-92, 94-95, 96-93.
“This is definitely my favorite fight I’ve had,” said Tait, who goes by the nickname “The Wolf.” “Espinoza is the number one boxer in his weight class in his country. I felt like I dominated a lot of the rounds until the ninth round. I actually felt like I dominated the beginning of that round until I got eight points.
“It was so good to be able to face a guy like that. He took the fight very seriously; I could feel it when I was there with him. He had a good punch, good skills and a good bag of tricks. It was a good experience to see what level I was at. I really enjoyed that fight.
“I had to readjust there. That’s what makes a good fighter. If you can’t adapt to different rhythms, you won’t go far. You have to be able to think on the fly. Some people only have one way of fighting, and that’s what catches them out in the end. But you have to adapt and fight good opponents who force you to do that, like Espinoza did.”
Balla is the next step in Tait’s development. The 33-year-old Melbourne native represented Australia at the 2012 London Olympics and has built a respectable record as a pro, despite two early-round knockout losses. Last December, Balla defeated Youssef Dib, handing the younger brother of former IBF featherweight champion Billy Dib his first professional defeat by majority decision.
Tait credits fellow Australian Liam Paro (seen here in his surprise win over Subriel Matias, left) for his career inspiration – Photo: Amanda Westcott/Matchroom
Tait doesn’t take him lightly.
“We tried to cover all the bases,” he said. “He had a very successful amateur career. He has experience and has been at it for a while. I feel like he’s going to try to push me, so I’ve been working a lot on my punching power and range control in this camp. Obviously I’m bigger than Balla, so I’ll try to employ that to my advantage as much as I can, but other than that it’s the same thing. You can’t really reinvent the wheel. That’s boxing, right?
“I think Balla has surprised a few people lately. He’s come out of nowhere. Dib was undefeated and he’s not a bad fighter. I was impressed with how Balla handled himself in that fight, so I’m excited to get in there and take part.” [regional] “I’m taking off his belts.”
International Boxing Hall of Fame member Whitaker may have had an influence on Tait’s career early on, but he now draws inspiration from his former gym mate.
“When I started out, I was lucky enough that Liam Paro was in the same gym that I trained at, also left-handed. Everything I learned from the start, being a left-handed fighter, came from Liam,” Tait said of the newly crowned IBF junior welterweight champion.
“We trained a lot together and he inspired me. Of course, he is a world champion now, but back then he had the same fire.
“He was really inspiring. He made it look fun. I thought, ‘I think I want to do that, too.’ And here we are.”
But the real lesson she learned from Paro wasn’t how to keep her hands up and box left-handed. It was how to pass it on.
“I would be ecstatic if I could pass on to even one child the self-confidence that was instilled in me when I was teenage,” Tait said.
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