A GOLD medal winning Leamington boxer’s latest opponent will certainly keep him on his toes.
Lewis Williams will be taking on Assistant Director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet, Dominic Antonucci, when he swaps the stage for the boxing ring at the weekend.
The fight will take place at Cleary’s Boxing Gym in Leamington on Sunday (May 5) with three rounds of sparring, which will see the heavyweight boxer, who won a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham 2022, take on the former principal dancer with the Birmingham Royal Ballet.
Lewis stands at six foot six inches tall and has been tipped as ‘the future of heavyweight boxing’, while Dominic has danced some of the company’s most challenging repertoire using speed, strength and technical ability.
But Dominic may not be completely on the back foot. He incorporated boxing into his training as a dancer to great effect during his career onstage.
Working alongside world champion boxers, Dominic attended strict gym sessions which included boxing drills, circuit training, workouts on the heavy bag and intense sparring sessions with professional boxers.
Dominic said: “I was not able to take part in matches while performing due to the obvious risk of injury but found that boxing training helped me tremendously as a dancer and a few years ago I finally decided to go for it and a had a proper match which I won.”
The fight has been organised by TV’s well-known football and boxing presenter, and long-time friend of Dominic’s, Gary Newbon.
Gary said: “I found out that Dominic celebrated his 50th birthday recently so secretly arranged for him to face Lewis Williams in the ring to help celebrate this milestone.”
Dominic added: “Thanks to Gary I’ve since returned to Eastside Gym to train for the bout on May 5. I’m learning the hard way as the young world class boxers take it very seriously indeed. It’s a great experience though and I’m loving every minute of it.”
