KENNY Anderson yesterday punched his way to Scotland's 11th gold medal of the Commonwealth Games with just one day remaining. In a medals table that now shows 29 medals in total, it is the gold column that shines brightest, 11 being the highest number Scotland has ever recorded, and a significant improvement on the previous record of eight in Brisbane.
Anderson's win in the light-heavyweight division over Adura Olalehin, of Nigeria, also maintained the enviable record of Scotland's boxers in the Commonwealth Games. They have contributed at least one medal - 57 in total, including 14 golds - in each
Games, but prior to Melbourne it was only the Brisbane Games, in 1982, that yielded just a single medal.
Anderson's progression to the final had been impressive. His first two fights were won on technical knock-outs, and after the semi-final his words rang with confidence. After the final, when he clawed back the Nigerian on points before finally overwhelming him with a flurry of punches, it was more relief that he felt.
"Going into the second round 8-3 down was heart-wrenching," said Anderson, "especially when you're fighting a counter. But eventually I wore him down and then I just went from strength to strength."
Anderson only moved ahead in the final minute of the final round, having been frustrated by the defensively minded Olalehin, who lost four penalty points for consistently holding and frustrating his opponent. At one stage in the final round the Scot had a five-point deficit to make up, trailing 12-17, but as the Nigerian crumpled to the canvas on more than one occasion, Anderson eventually came through, winning 23-19 in the end.
If it was heart-wrenching for Anderson, the 23-year-old from Edinburgh who has been the designated leader of Scotland's seven-strong boxing squad, it was nerve-wracking for those who were watching. They included a large Scottish contingent in the packed Melbourne Exhibition Centre, including a number of athletes who'd finished competing. Somebody else watching was Anderson's wife, Lisa, back home in Edinburgh, and nine months pregnant with their third child.
The support for Anderson was based partly on the timing of his fight, but also on the myth that has built up around him on his way to the final. His post-match interviews have proved almost as entertaining as the fights themselves, with Anderson revealing that his preparation involves watching Mel Gibson's Braveheart prior to every fight, and reciting the Haka. "It gets the heart going," he explained. "It wells me."
As the fight got under way, Anderson was easily the more aggressive of the two, yet few of his punches were connecting. By contrast, Olalehin was hitting him with a punch here, a punch there, none of them making much of an impression, but all counting towards an increasingly healthy points total.
"I definitely had to change my game plan," revealed Anderson afterwards. "I'd done my preparation and my video analysis and I had a plan A, but I had to go to plan B. When it started to work, and I started landing my shots, he didn't want to know. He stayed away from me. It was really frustrating, I wanted the referee to intervene to stop the holding, but eventually I was able to claw back the points."
Finally Anderson was a deserved winner, and acclaimed by the audience as such. It was the expected outcome, but it had gone to the wire, and as he went backstage to prepare for the medal presentation, the boxing team manager Donald Campbell appeared with a bundle of song sheets, containing the lyrics to Scotland the Brave. "Who says I didn't think he'd win," he joked.
The team's assistant coach, Steven Newns, also described his relief, and explained how the plan changed from A to B. "We were telling him the score all through the fight, that he was three-down, four-down, but he had to take it out of the referees' hands," said Newns.
"In the break between the third and fourth [final] round I said: 'Come on, you've never lost a final yet, where's this gold medal coming from?' And he went out and did it, and he deserves it. I hope it's a stepping stone for him."
Most believed prior to the fight that it would be a stepping stone to a professional career, since this is what Anderson has been saying for some time, and again this week. But after yesterday's fight he revealed that he will be doing no such thing. Rather, he stated his determination to stay amateur for the Beijing Olympics in two years.
"Before, I was making my decision based on money and stuff like that, and a lot of people get pushed into the pro ranks," he said. "I was definitely thinking about it - you have to with a wife and two kids to support, and another one on the way. But now, with this, I have the funding and support to go ahead to Beijing and I think I can do well at the Olympics."
But not everyone was complimentary about Anderson on his route to the final. His quarter-final opponent, Tony Jeffries of England, said after their meeting that he wasn't good enough to win gold. Anderson was glad to prove him wrong yesterday. "He was a good opponent, and he did well, but I proved I was better than him. He's going home with nothing."
