Bartley Green Amateur has Brains as well as Brawn
Brad Meddings Amateur Boxer
Brad Meddings is a 20 year old inspirational young man, who is showing everyone that you can have brains and brawn as he carves out his amateur career along side going to university. Originally from Bartley Green, but currently living in Redditch the unbeaten light heavyweight who has fought at 79 and 81kg has a amateur record of 5 wins no defeats with 3 coming by the way of stoppage. Standing at 6 foot 2 the orthodox fighter is in his second year at Cardiff university where he is studying law.
Brad who cut his teeth in boxing at Paddy’s Gym Erdington under the tutelage of myself, Dean and Paddy Martin before going to (Narna’s Gym) Bartley Green ABC where his father Darren Meddings owner of Narna’s gym trained him. When Brad started Uni he joined the Cardiff university ABC and in his first 5 fights was entered into the National British university championships where he won the gold medal in the novice event at his weight.
He is now trained at his university by coaches Samuel Frank and Sunny Dhillion and his dad whenever he is home.
I asked Brad who his favourite boxer is and why? He told me “my favourite retired boxer would have to be James Toney because of his amazing trash talk, and I love his style, but currently my favorite would have to be Vasyl Lomachenko, just because I think he’s a different level to anyone in the game at the minute. His footwork and angles are amazing”.
My next question was what is the best fight you have seen? Brad informed me “Froch v Groves II at Wembley, the atmosphere was incredible”.
Brad has been boxing on and off since he was 11 and was inspired to take up the noble art
by his dad, Brad said “My dad always told me it was important to learn to look after yourself and that it was a great confidence builder and he wasn’t wrong. He also showed me and my brother the Joe Calzaghe v Jeff Lacy fight countless times, and that really inspired me to get into boxing”.
My final question was what has been your hardest fight to date? He told me “Probably my fight in the first round of the National uni championships, because I came out very flat in the first and lost the round, I then got a telling off in the corner which motivated me to turn it on. I came out and stopped him in the second”.
I contacted Brad’s very proud father Darren Meddings and owner of Narna’s gym Bartley Green for a comment on his son. He told the column “Brad has been in and out of Paddy Martins and my gym since he was 12 but never really enjoyed it. He's now fell in love with the sport and doing very well and boxing above his 5 bout experience, he sets traps and capsulizes on there mistakes. He is an intelligent fighter and works hard and takes it seriously and has a great record 5-0 with 3 stoppages, obviously his law degree comes first but the boxing is keeping his mind focused”.
Dexter’s Thoughts
I have none Brad since his dad brought him to Paddy’s gym when he was a young lad, he has always been a very respectful kid and would listen to the instruction myself, Dean Martin and Paddy Martin would give him. Brad didn't seem to interested in the noble art at first but to his credit was pretty good at it from an early age.when his father opened Narna’s gym he started training there but seemed to lose interest in the sport as a teenager, as girls and socializing started to come into play. When I was informed by his dad that he was at uni and had joined there amateur club I was really pleased as I could see the potential in Brad from a young age. He has had 5 fights and won them all and has also won the British University novice gold medal, I'm am so proud to be able to say that I helped in the early year to get this young man into boxing if only in a small way. The Birmingham boxing column wishes Brad Meddings all the best at uni passing his law degrees and will be reporting on his progress in the amateurs.