THE
GOLD COAST "GOLDEN BOY"
By Gary Lawrance
The undefeated Julian
Holland is the OBA welterweight
champion, winning the title with a
unanimous points decision over Danny
"Boy" Pierce at the
Southport RSL on the 26-3-98. This was a
good win for Holland as Pierce
was undefeated in six fights
coming into this title contest. Holland
boxed superbly for the first nine rounds
of the fight, frustrating Pierce
into action in the tenth. The momentum
stayed with Pierce till
the end of the fight but it was too
little too late with Holland
getting the decision by scores of 116-112(Cairns),
117-112(Daley), 118-111(Austin).
Holland
has since improved his record to
18-17-0-1-9 with a victory over former
world ranked welterweight Sean
Sullivan of New Zealand. This
fight was for the vacant Australasian
title and was Holland's hardest
fight of his career to date. With his
trademark fast start Holland
outboxed Sullivan over
the first five rounds, but fell in a hole
as Sullivan came back to
win the next three rounds, making Holland
miss for the first time in the fight.
With both fighters really putting in the
effort coming into the ninth, it was Holland
who visibly dug deeper and took the next
two rounds, scoring with bunches of
punches in short bursts. The last round
of the contest was a desperate affair
with both boxers knowing it would be
close on the score cards. A standing
ovation from the 1000 strong crowd at the
Southport RSL, resulted in a $300 gold
coin shower as the decision was
announced. A split decision to Holland-
115-114(Cairns-Sullivan),
116-114(Cairns-Holland) and
116-113(Milham-Holland).
Holland
is now the no.1 ranked contender to
Jeff Malcolm's PABA welterweight
title. Malcolm also
holds the no.7 ranking in the WBA. The
PABA champion automatically receives a
top 15 WBA ranking and this is something
that Holland wants to
achieve.
"He's staying in
my road," says Holland.
"I'm no.1 to his PABA title and I
want a world rating as well".
This fight would
certainly be a promoters dream on the
Gold Coast. There would be no problem in
filling a large venue like the Jupiters
Casino as both boxers have huge local
followings. But this fight seems destined
not to go ahead. There is animosity
between both camps. Malcolm's
camp saying they have offered the fight
three times and Holland's
camp saying that there is not enough
money on offer. Both fighters have a lot
to lose out of this fight but it's one
the paying public would love to see.
Julian Holland
was born in Bendigo in Victoria on black
friday the thirteenth 1972. His parents
were born and bred in Bendigo. He lived
there for six years and then moved to
Darwin for six years growing up and
developed a love for fishing. He then
arrived on the Gold Coast as an eleven
year old and started an amateur career as
a boxer.
"I was 33 and a
half kilos, huge and a killer,"he
said.
Holland
had roughly fifty amateur fights up to
fifteen years old. His last fight was at
51 kilos and he gave boxing away to play
rugby league and to start an
apprenticeship as a farrier with the Gold
Coast Turf Club.
In1992 Holland
moved to Melbourne to finish his
apprenticeship and started boxing again
for the Australian Boxing League. He won
the Victorian and Australian titles at
welterweight and moved back to Qld to win
the Qld title at junior welterweight. He
then went on to win the silver medal at
the next Australian titles and then a
silver at the Oceania Games before
turning professional at 22 years old.
September 22 1995 was
the date on which Holland
made his pro debut. He began with a bang
dispatching Justin Meredith
in the first round at Carrara. He then
went on to winning his next six fights in
eight months, mostly by knockout, before
teaming up with Ray Giles at his Burleigh
Heads gym.
Holland's
first fight under Giles'
tutelage was on June 30 1996 against Pete
Raiwalui for the South Seas
welterweight title which he won on points
over eight rounds. Next up came a
technical draw (cuts) over two rounds
against Nick Tetoros and
then two more wins before receiving a
shot at the vacant Qld welterweight title
against Dindo Canoy. A
ten round points verdict saw the title go
to Holland.
December 18 1997 saw a
grudge match against Stefan
Scriggins for his Australian
welterweight title. Holland
won the title by knockout in the fifth
round as both fighters fell through the
ropes with Holland
returning to the ring and Scriggins
counted out as he couldn't return in the
allotted time.
At this time in his
career Holland was being
and still is promoted and managed by Mark
Ericksen's Pacific Promotions.
This was unfortunately going to cause
problems in the not too distant future as
Ray Giles wanted to set
a path for Holland that
was in contrast to plans by Ericksen..
This led to a split two weeks before the Danny
"Boy" Pierce fight for
the OBA title. Holland joined
forces with Tony Schwalger
for the fight and they have been together
ever since.
While still looking for
a major sponsor, Holland pays
tribute to the companies who have helped
him enormously already- AAF Scaffolding,
Peppermill restaurant, Linden Park Horse
Stud and Phases for Men menswear.
While Holland's
career is moving along well, so is his
personal life. He is living with his
girlfriend of two years Narelle and is
constantly kept on his toes by his pet
dog Oscar (named after Oscar De La Hoya).
He also receives plenty of support from
family and friends and as always he is
looking forward to his next bout.
Copyright.Gary
Lawrance.1998.
|
