Shepparton's Brooklyn Andresen is preparing for his debut professional fight. Photo: Team Ellis Promotions
Brooklyn Andresen has been tipped for a career on the world stage - as the Shepparton fighter spoke in glowing terms about his hometown ahead of his professional debut.
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The youngster has enjoyed a steady rise to prominence since first taking to the ring back in 2013. Since then, he has notched up 30 amateur bouts, with his exploits having taken him as far afield as Norway, Poland and Iceland before his return to Australia after his gap year in Scandinavia.
While studying a degree in Sports Science at Melbourne’s La Trobe University, the talented super-welterweight caught the eye of Team Ellis promotions. Now, under the tutelage of trainer Tai Tuiniua, he will compete for the first time as a professional on May 2 at Melbourne Pavilion on the ‘Pretender to Contender’ card.
“[Team Ellis] have had a massive impact in terms of the opportunity they’ve provided in turning professional, managing preparation, sponsorships etc. My trainer Tai does my matchmaking now so everything has been made so easy since joining them,” Andresen said.
After opening back in 2017, Team Ellis Gym has helped launch the careers of sporting stars such as Tommy Fitzgerald, Mitch Leek, Lucas Miller, Tayla Harris and Nelson Asofa-Solomona.
The promotion’s ethos is centred around building on the legacy of Keith Ellis Jr., referred to within the boxing community as the ‘Trainer of the Century’. During his glittering career, he trained more than two dozen Australian champions and just under 60 professional champions, in terms of regional, world and commonwealth titles.
Jake Ellis is now Andresen’s promoter and has been an integral catalyst in the Shepparton pugilist’s rise. Having been involved boxing promotions since 2011, he kept an eye on the youngster’s progress since first encountering him via late Shepparton fighter Dwight Ritchie.
“We’ve known Brooklyn since he was very young. We had another fighter from Shepparton named Dwight Ritchie and he moved into my uncle’s house when he was 15,” he said.
Andresen credits Ritchie for laying the foundations for him to pursue a career in the sport. Having sparred with ‘The Fighting Cowboy’ as a teenager, the youngster speaks in admiration for the former Australian middleweight title holder, who died in 2019 aged just 29.
“Dwight helped with a lot of foundational work, I was 14 or 15 doing rounds with him - which had an immeasurable influence on my growth as a boxer,” Brooklyn said.
“Not just in terms of toughness but also skills-wise. Sparring a guy like him, who was one of the best in Australia, had a great impact on me.“
Nowadays, Andresen regularly spars with Mitch Leek, the lightweight champion from Bendigo, who is also on the books of Team Ellis promotions.
“I feel like I’m in very good hands and it’s been eye-opening to go to that next level in terms of professionalism, preparation, what it takes in training and all the stuff behind the curtain too,” the fighter said.
Last week, both Andresen and Leek flew down to Queensland to box former world champion Liam Paro, who is the No. 1 in the welterweight division in the country. The ex-IBF belt holder, who is currently training for another tilt at the world title in April, was suitably impressed with the duo.
Brooklyn Andresen has been tipped for a big future in the sport of boxing.
“[Paro’s] trainer, Alfie di Carlo, has said he is going to fly down to train with Mitch and Brooklyn in two weeks - that’s how impressed they were, that they’re gonna fly their whole team down to do rounds with those two boys,” promoter Ellis said.
As for the legendary Lester Ellis, who became world champion back in 1985, he is arguably the boy’s oldest and biggest fan.
“He absolutely loves him. He’s been watching Brooklyn since he was a kid and has been watching him for quite some time. He watched his last exhibition match and said to me ‘that kid can be special’,” his son said.
The promotion puts on around six shows per year, with their platform such that 2,000 spectators are expected to watch Andresen in action at Melbourne Pavilion in May. Now, the youngster’s representative has called on his hometown to get behind their emerging famous son.
“He was born and raised in Shepp and is a Shepp boy through and through. He’s a real country kid. He’s really close to his mum and his step-dad and has gone through a lot of sacrifices to move his whole life here [to Melbourne],” Ellis said.
“He absolutely loves Shepp. Brooklyn was very lucky to have Dwight [Ritchie], who moved back to Shepp towards the end of his career, who then really took him under his wing to spar hundreds if not thousands of rounds with him and really develop him into a special talent.”
“A lot of the city boys have had a lot more resources to develop, whereas Brooklyn has had to do it the hard way. I think a lot of people can relate to that and respect that even more.”
Speaking passionately about his hometown, Andresen vowed to do Shepparton proud on his debut in a couple of months’ time.
“I hope everyone can get behind me and support me. I’ll be representing Shepparton and all the boxers and trainers there. I hope to put on a show for them and make them all proud,” he said.
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