Boxing: Switched-on Paulin is in the running

BOXER Lewis Paulin is one fighter definitely in for the long haul.

The 20-year-old has swapped cross-country running for boxing - a move which brought immediate success as he won the Scottish Novices lightweight title last weekend.

And, Paulin, who is travelling from Eyemouth to train in the Queensferry club, has been backed for further success by leading Scottish athletics coach Henry Gray.

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Gray said: "Paulin won a clutch of cross and middle distance titles and medals in running but our loss is Scottish amateur boxing's gain for he has tremendous stamina which will help him in the boxing ring and a big heart too.''

Appropriately, for a power puncher, working in power stations was the catalyst that propelled Paulin from belting around running tracks to belting opponents in the ring.

"I loved winning races but I've always been interested in boxing. But Eyemouth and Berwickshire hasn't had much amateur boxing since the 1990s so when I was sent down to Portsmouth as part of my Torness power station training I felt bored in strange surroundings in the evenings so I joined an amateur boxing club at Fareham near Portsmouth and won four out of six fights down there which whetted my appetite for boxing.

"When I came back, present pro boxer and former Queensferry boxer Dave Cowan, who works at Cockenzie power station, heard my brother, who is a colleague of Cowan's, say that I was looking for a boxing club so Dave directed me to Mark Geraghty and the Queensferry club and I've now had five bouts for them, winning most by stoppage.''