Willie Hutchison returned from Saint Petersburg, Russia, having made history. But a week on from becoming Scotland’s first ever world amateur boxing champion, the 18-year-old says that his achievement still hasn’t hit home.
“I can’t put it into words how it feels, it’s unbelievable,” he said. “It’s still not sunk in and I don’t think it ever will, to be honest. The fact that I was the first Scottish person to ever do this really hit me when I landed back home and it’s just unbelievable.”
Hutchison’s path to gold at the AIBA World Youth Boxing Championships was not an easy one; en route to the final, he had to take on the world No.2 Cuban fighter Lenar Perez before then defeating fighters from Venezuela, Hungary, Ireland and Kazakhstan to claim victory.
However, despite the strength of his opposition, Hutchison never once doubted his ability to come out on top.
“I’d told my family and my coach at the start of the year that I’d be world champion and going into the tournament, my expectations were to win gold,” the Springhill ABC fighter said.
“I always knew that I’d be world champion and during the tournament, I was in the zone – I was so focused and I was there to win. No-one was going to beat me.”
Looking at Hutchison’s previous results, becoming world champion was the next logical step. He was already British and European junior champion and so he has now successfully completed the full set.
Despite his success, though, the teenager still struggles financially and he quickly shoots down any assumptions that world champions are all rolling in cash.
“Sometimes I find it hard with no money and no sponsorship,” he said. “I’ve been boxing since I was nine and I’ve never had any help. The only person who’s ever helped me financially is my dad.
"I’m a full-time boxer so I’m training six days a week and not earning and that’s hard because I’m 18 now. I’m a man so I don’t want anyone else looking after me. So hopefully this will make people take notice of me.”
Hutchison, in fact, comes from a family of successful boxers although the teenager still has some way to go if he is to follow in their footsteps.
Emulating their achievements is very much a target though. “My dream is to become world champion in the pro game and if I could chose one place to fight, I’d pick Madison Square Garden because I had two uncles who topped the bill there,” he said.
“James Hutchison and Hughie Hutchison were brothers. One fought in a world title eliminator and the other was a world champion. That was in the 1950s. And I also had another uncle who was British, Commonwealth and European champion. He retired unbeaten so it’d be good if I can follow that.”
For now, though, Hutchison’s targets are more in the short term. With the next Commonwealth Games now only 16 months away, a gold medal in Gold Coast is very much within his sights. And, with the Scottish boxing scene in the best shape that it’s been in for many years, Hutchison is aware of how good a time it is to be breaking into the big-time.
“I watched Glasgow 2014 and I was thinking that next time, that should be me,” he said.
“And I’d love to win Olympic gold but I’ll just need to see what happens because Tokyo is still four years away.
"But it’s a very good time for the sport in Scotland at the moment and it’s very exciting to think that I could be a part of that.”
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