CHEPSTOW’S most promising boxers will look to secure victory at national competitions over the next few weeks.

The town's Amateur Boxing Club (ABC), led by Steve Woods, has two exciting prospects who will be looking to secure progression in the WABA Elite Championships next month.

Their most promising woman boxer Rosie Eccles, 18, is a former Chepstow School pupil and is currently in her first year working towards a sports studies degree at Cardiff Metropolitan University.

Although she is based in the capital, she trains at Chepstow ABC under coach Steve Woods six times a week in the run up to her fight at Gilfach Goch in Rhondda Cynon Taff on Sunday.

If she wins she will have a chance of competing for a place at the WABA Elite Championships Finals in April, which will be held at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff.

She said she first took part in boxing when she was 15, attending a boxercise class when unable to take part in other sports. She was keen to carry on and her competitive spirit has carried her through. She maintains a healthy lifestyle to remain in excellent shape.

On her diet, she said: “It’s very healthy, plain. I will just have plain oats with water [for breakfast]. I will generally eat chicken, fish. It is not very exciting.”

And on her training schedule, she added: “I am only 18 and I am going for a senior title – and it’s just a challenge. I have trained so hard, I really want to win.”

She said her ambitions include fighting at the Commonwealth Games. Currently her weight division is not included in the games – but she said she was hopeful it would be introduced in the near future.

Her trainer Mr Woods said he was convinced she would reach the very top of the sport.

He said: “I am absolutely convinced she is going to win [the WABA Elite Championship Finals]. She has had seven bouts, and had TKOs (technical knock outs) in four of them.

“When she is not in the ring she is such a nice sweet girl. She has the killer instinct, as soon as she hurts someone.”

This is not the first time she has been featured in the Argus for her fighting spirit. Last year, on collecting her A-Level results she had secured an A in PE and Bs in history and economics. The exceptional grades were made even more impressive since she had attained much lower ones in her AS Levels a year before.

Among the fights she has had recently, she beat a three times Welsh champion in her division, so the future looks bright – both academically and in her chosen sport.

Fellow fighter David Stansfield is 26 but has been boxing since he was at primary school. His uncle took him and his brother down to the gym when he was 10 and from then on the light welterweight was hooked on the sport.

The only time he has stopped boxing was when he was a student at Swansea University. He said he knew he couldn’t fight without total commitment and so put it on the back burner for a couple of years.

He said: “With boxing you can’t half heartedly do it. It is a bit pointless otherwise. You can get away with it playing football but you always have to make sure you’re fit because sometimes you might get a week’s notice [for a fight]; sometimes you might get two or three weeks.”

Both of them pay tribute to their coaches, including Mr Woods, who have dedicated countless hours to their development over the last few months in the lead up to the championship. Along with Ms Eccles’ excellent record, Mr Stansfield has won his last three bouts.

In the preliminary rounds of his 64kg battle on March 22, Mr Stansfield beat a fighter in front of former WBO world cruiserweight champion Enzo Maccarinelli at Gilfach Goch.

The coach Mr Woods learned from and the enthusiast who originally set up Chepstow ABC’s gym, Terry Dymock, died at the end of last year and received plaudits from the Monmouth MP David Davies. Mr Davies had attended the club occasionally and gave the eulogy at Mr Dymock’s funeral.

And as he said earlier this month, he said training at the club meant boxing was as good as any other to combat occasionally difficult behaviour.

Mr Davies said: “Some of the youngsters were quite difficult to deal with when they first came in, but Terry would teach them very quickly about the importance of respect for themselves and others."

Mr Dymock himself was an exceptional boxer: in 165 fights, he won the Royal Navy Sea Cadets Championship, three Midland Counties championships, a senior title and three junior titles. He left the ring as a fighter for the final time in 1967.

Mr Woods said he is keen to carry on the coach’s work – to be hard, fair and produce excellent boxers. Some of the boxers Mr Dymock crafted into exceptional fighters included Michael McDaid, Warren Leamon, Jamie Morley and Rameece Rouf.

The trainer arranged events around the world for members of the gym – in Germany, Northern Ireland, Greece and Amsterdam. Mr Stansfield was one boxer to fight on the international stage, having visited Sardinia after Mr Dymock put a tour together with other exceptional fighters.

And now, with a host of other talented boxers waiting in the wings behind Ms Eccles and Mr Stansfield, Chepstow ABC is as much a hotbed for talented as it has ever been.

The boxing gym is open to fighters of all ages at training sessions on Tuesdays and Sunday mornings. For more information on the activities there, contact Mr Woods on 07793 047941.