Indigenous Queenslander, 22 yr old boxing champion Clay Waterman known as the “Boxing Kangaroo”, began boxing at the age of 10. He became Australia’s first ever Amateur Boxing World Champion at 15 years of age. Clay travelled to Kazakhstan to compete at the World Junior Amateur Championships
In July 2011,
Leading into the championships – Clay had not lost a bout since 2006 – Clay fought against 11 junior boxers at the tournament – winning a gold medal in the pinweight (46kg) division.
Originally from Beaudesert but now based at Loganlea, Waterman is no stranger to fighting on the international amateur stage having won a gold medal in 2011 at the World Junior Championships, and a silver at the 2016 Olympic qualifiers before being ruled out of a trip to Rio due to injury.
With his amateur record at an impressive 127 wins and nine losses, Waterman would not rule out the possibility of turning professional at some stage in the future. When asked what his secret ritual before getting into the ring, Clay says “Bit of a prayer with mother, big stretch before I enter the venue.”
Clay is a past Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Foundation student and won a bronze medal in the Men’s 81kg division at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018. He has many heroes in boxing but says of his favourite “Former American professional boxer, Mike TYSON, and former US Virgin Islands professional boxer, Julian JACKSON.”
Clay’s ultimate goal in pursuing his amateur boxing career to make it to the Olympic Games in 2020.
Clay will be speaking at the Highfields Pioneer Village on Australia Day as part of the Australian Ambassador Program on Saturday, January 26th 2019 at 2.00pm. Entry is free to the Village after 1.30pm on this day for the official ceremony.
For more information please contact the Village office on 074696 6309
