Aberdeen teen boxing sensation Ben Bonner has secured a third straight British title after training with ring legend Freddie Roach in the USA.
The 17-year-old won a third successive title when beating Milwyn Lloyd (Wales) by unanimous decision in the GB Youth 67kg final.
Highly-rated Bonner has immediately set his sights on a fourth British gold next year.
As part of his preparation for the GB Junior and Youth championships, Granite City ABC star Bonner jetted out to the USA for a training camp.
Bonner trained at the legendary Wild Card gym in Los Angeles with boxing great Roach who has worked with more than 50 world champions.
Roach trained eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao, three-time world champion James Toney and four-division world title-winner Miguel Cotto.
Bonner went toe-to-toe with unbeaten Armenian Gori Yeritsan at the Wild Card as Roach watched.
Yeritsan, 29, has won all 18 of his professional fights to date and is the reigning WBC Continental Americas welterweight champion.
Bonner said: “A third British title is what I had been pushing for all year.
“It was an amazing feeling when my arm was held up as the winner.
“I had a training camp in Los Angeles and Las Vegas before the tournament and it paid off massively.
“I could not have had a better camp as I was training alongside some of the best Mexican and American fighters in the world.
“It was an immense experience.
“I trained at the Wild Card with Freddie Roach and got to spar one of his fighters Gor Yeritsan while Freddie watched.
“Yeritsan has won all 18 of his pro fights, with 14 knock-outs.”
Valuable lessons from ring legend
Roach has been named “Trainer of the Year” seven times and was inducted into the prestigious International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2012.
Roach has also worked with Mike Tyson, Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr and Tyson Fury.
Bonner said: “It was brilliant to mix it with a fighter like Yeritsan as in Scotland you don’t really get the chance to do that.
“For a kid from Aberdeen, it was fantastic and you can’t get better sparring than that.
“Freddie talked with me after it (sparring) and I learnt so much.
“I took aspects from different fighters from my time in America and adapted it to my style.
“It really paid off.”
Historic third straight British title
In a memorable year for Bonner, the teen also won the Scottish title in April.
Bonner beat Cain ABC’s Zane Lawson in the Youth 2006 67kg Golden Gloves final.
In search of his third successive British title, Bonner faced Lloyd of Llay ABC (Wrexham)Â in the final in Wales.
Lloyd last month won gold at the Bornemissza Memorial Tournament in Hungary and was named boxer of the tournament.
Bonner said: “My coaches were saying I’m the first from Aberdeen to win three British titles in a row in amateur boxing.
“I beat Lloyd who is three-time Welsh champion and has been in the Welsh boxing team for a long time.
“He is highly rated on the international stage and has beaten some top boys.
“I knew it was going to be a tough fight, but I got a unanimous decision.
“The first British title was amazing, the second even better and now the third tops it.
“The pressure was on this time as I wanted to get the hat-trick.
“I have to thank my coaches and sponsors for helping me so much because I wouldn’t be where I am now without them.”
‘I had a target on my back’
Having won back-to-back British titles before this year’s tournament, Bonner reckons he had a “target on my back”.
The teen insists that target will only get bigger next time, when he bids for a fourth consecutive British gold medal.
He said: “I will be going for a fourth next year.
“I will be a senior next year, so it will be a different ball game as headguards will be off and I’ll be in with older boxers.
“I was told many times during training that I had a target on my back as I had won two titles going into it.
“After winning a third, I will have an even bigger target on my back.
“I enjoy that, though, because it makes it more competitive.
“I’m here to take hard fights and am ready for anything.”
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