From butchery and local football only a few short years ago to earning a ticket to Rio as one of only three Australian Olympic boxers, Jason Whateley’s journey to the top of amateur boxing has certainly been unique. He sat down with JARROD POTTER recently to talk about the rigours of qualification and what it means to have earned his place among the world’s best.
FROM either end of his power-packed right arm, boxer Jason Whateley’s beliefs can be easily read.
Tattooed into an arm-length design, honouring and espousing the world’s warriors, Whateley has inscribed his strongest ethos in two simple phrases.
‘Fortune favours the brave.’
‘Never surrender.’
It’s easy to tattoo these phrases onto a sleeve, but it’s a lot harder to live up to these ideals when thrust into the toughest challenge of your life.
Punch by punch Whateley, 25, who until recently lived in Berwick, had to rise through the ranks just to earn his place among the hopeful at the Olympic Games.
He won his national title fights.
He battled across the Asia Pacific region.
Whateley’s grueling campaign – across multiple continents in a whirlwind year – had earned him a place in the last 16 heavyweights throughout the region.
It was 2 April at the Tangshan Jiujiang Sport Center in Qian’an, China when Whateley’s fate was decided.
He won his way through to the final four, but the semi-final bout was a lot tougher as he fell 0-3 to Uzbekistan’s Rustam Tulaganov.
Missing his first chance to qualify for Rio – there remained only one more fight for his Olympic right.
All that remained was one more bout – the last junction between Whateley’s Olympic dreams or nightmares about failure.
He battled Tajikistan’s Jakhon Qurbonov in that finale to the heavyweight (91kg) competition – besting the toughest from Asia and Oceania together for a handful of Olympic spots.
Whateley had the Tajikistani on the ropes from the first punch, but the match would go the distance and be settled by points.
As the judges revealed their winner, Whateley went from hopeful to Olympian in the blink of an eye and the raise of his glove.
Now back in Victoria, preparing for the biggest bouts of his career by far, he doesn’t quite know how to feel that he’s now an Olympian-in-waiting.
“It’s been difficult for it to sink in – it still hasn’t,” Whateley said.
“I thought when I got my ticket to Rio it would sink in, but it still hasn’t and I think it will once I get there and I’m in the village.
“It’s been a long road but it’s been good – it was overwhelming when I got through, the feeling when I qualified was like the world had been lifted off my shoulders.
“Been a long road to get there, but I’d do it all again for sure.”
Despite the heart-breaking semi-final loss against Tulaganov, forcing him into a sudden-death fight for his ticket, Whateley went into the bout against Qurbonov knowing he would win.
After all, he had the heart and character necessary to push past his opponent.
“You’ve got to shake it off as that’s amateur boxing,” Whateley said.
“After I lost I went ‘right, it’s done, put it behind me’ – went out of the ring, went out the back and watched the fight of who would face me then straight away I put my focus onto that.
“I was 100 per cent confident – I knew I’d be fitter, knew I’d be stronger and I knew I’d have more heart.
“He tended to give up at the end and I thought ‘I’ve got this, I won’t let this bloke beat me’ and that’s how it went.”
Jason Whateley can’t quite believe he’s an Olympian-in-waiting, despite earning his ticket to Rio earlier this month. Picture: JARROD POTTER
With only three Australians in the Olympic Games tournament, it shows the difficulty our local boxers had to go through just to earn their place after a change to the rules for qualification.
“It probably says how hard qualification is at the moment,” Whateley said.
“This is the first time they’ve made us qualify through Asia – previously it was just through Oceania and if you one that you went through.
“The last boxing team at the Olympics was 10 men and one female – that was a full squad, but the rule change made us box through Asia which is a strong boxing continent.
“Made it really difficult for us, but for the guys who made it through, it proves you’ve earned your spot – if you get through you know you’ve earned it.”
The next few months will be a whirlwind of training for the hard-hitting heavyweight. Picture: JARROD POTTER
The toughness of the qualification process, coupled with his inexperience at the highest level left a few in and around him questioning his ability to qualify.
But putting those who doubted his potential in his wake, Whateley said it was important to recognise what they can offer you when you staunchly disagree – added motivation.
“Probably once I qualified – I know a lot of people that said I wouldn’t be able to qualify but I did and it’s great to have done that,” Whateley said.
“You don’t want those people who have said those things to be right – you do think about it a little bit and you can’t let them be right, so it motivates you.
“Before the nationals last year I was probably up against it – and a lot of people thought I wouldn’t – so I’d say never give up and keep chasing your dreams.
“You’ll have a lot of people saying a lot of things, but you need to focus on the things you do and to do your job.
“People have now been saying ‘who’s to watch’ – well, I’m to watch – I’m going there to beat them up and I’m right there with them.”
Training up and improving in the final months before he heads to South America, Whateley knows there’s plenty left to go and will strive through every session, every punch in training to put himself in the best position.
“Probably everywhere,” Whateley said.
“I don’t think you can ever stop learning and you’ll learn as much as you can all the time. You’re never too good to stop learning, will just keep working on everything.
“My skills and really trying to drive them through as I’m fighting the world’s best and they have to beat the top of my game there.
“My fitness is always good, but I’ll just keep working on these things as usual.”
He wanted to thank Zagames Berwick, Matt West and VicPlumb for their support and to follow his journey or to sponsor the local Olympian in his pursuit for gold- visit his Facebook page “Jason Whateley – Boxer”.
