‘He can be a world champion’ | Unsung heroes nurturing Brooklyn Andresen on path to stardom

Landing a major blow in the first round, “Kid Brook” dispatched of the 13 Rounds Gym scrapper Cosar over four three-minute rounds before dedicating his performance to late Shepparton fighter and hero Dwight Ritchie.

A Shepp boy through and through, Andresen expressed his gratitude to friends, family and fans who had made the 400km round-trip to Melbourne to witness what proved to be a full-circle moment in his burgeoning career on the canvas.

The youngster’s journey to stardom started a long while before he stepped into the fray at the Pavilion on the evening of May 2, however.

Taken under the wing of Damian Morgan during his teenage years in his hometown, the super-welterweight boxer’s talents were fine tuned by the Shepparton coach over previous decade.

“Back in Shepparton, I’ve been a trainer for 25 years including with my little cousin Dwight Ritchie for his last eight fights, I also fought under his father Darcy and had 18 fights under him.

“I started my own gym in Shepparton and while training Dwight, I first saw Brooklyn when he was in the gym with another trainer - I could see he had something special and had a really good work ethic,” Morgan said of his contributions to Andresen’s rise.

“He is a really tough kid, with a high boxing IQ and all the other attributes; a humble kid and hard worker who trained the house down.

“I could see he had this burning passion for it and he does all of the right things outside of boxing, taking everything very professionally - he lives, eats and sleeps boxing.”

“He always had his heart set on turning pro’, as he’d learned a lot from Dwight, he’d always sit and study him and he saw him at his top level as one of the best in Australia and the world.

“He’s really developed into a great all-round fighter, he can fight on the front-foot, the back-foot, counterpunch, go to the body when he needs to - he can stand in the trenches and go to war as well.

“I don’t think he knows just how proud I am of him, this kid can be a world champion one day.”

In addition, Team Ellis owner and promoter Jake Ellis, described his own sense of fulfilment as Andresen delivered on his date with destiny.

The prodigy already had over 30 bouts under his belt heading into his professional debut, having fought as far afield as Norway, Iceland and Poland prior to his outing in Melbourne.

“As a youngster, I first met him through Dwight Ritchie down in Shepparton,” Ellis, son of former world champion Lester Ellis, said.

“From the first day I saw him at 13, he had all the talent, a natural eye, really good power and grit - the years following that he just started tearing through the amateur scene.

“He fought the current Australian champion in his division right now (as an amateur) and beat him three times out of four, he fought Callum Peters and Benji Bommber too and has wins over all of those guys.

“Obviously, as an amateur he went all the way over to Norway and I was always keeping an eye on him and was always on the phone to his trainer saying ‘when is he ready to turn pro?’”

As for what is next for “Kid Brook”, there is confidence within his inner circle that this victory against Cosar can act as a springboard for major success in the coming years.

“His main strengths are is his power, he’s naturally really balanced with great speed and footwork,” Ellis continued, outlining the fighter’s standout qualities.

“He’s got a bit of everything, so the main thing now is about making that transition from amateurs to professional because the duration (of fights) is different, so we’re trying to slow him down a bit.

“We’re trying to get him to focus on quality over quantity in terms of shots and he’s starting to really pick that up - he’s got a natural pro’ style.”

After delivering on his billing in front of a capacity crowd at Melbourne Pavilion, those who witnessed Andresen’s compelling victory may have just witnessed the emergence of a future Australian household name.