BLACK 'N' Blue Boxing Gunnedah's Enja Prest has overcome all the odds to win her first Australian amateur boxing title on Saturday night.
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Competing in the 67-71 kilogram division, Prest overcame three late-night fights to take home the gold at the championship tournament.
Priest was made to wait for her first fight of the tournament, which came at 1.30am on Friday.
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After claiming a unanimous decision, the 28-year-old repeated the feat on Saturday night in the tournament semi-final.
From there, a clinical performance saw the Dubbo native turned Gunnedah local take out the competition final.
Priest said her preparation for the event was key to her victory.
"I'm a little bit tender at the moment, having fought three four-round fights in three days, but I'm really pleased with the result," Prest told the Namoi Valley Independent.
"There were a total of six fighters in my division, which made it one of the biggest at the tournament.
"Last year's winner was eliminated in the first round, so after that I felt extremely confident I could get the job done."
The weekend-long effort was enough to see Prest named the female fighter of the tournament.
"I think I was able to win that because of how many fighters were in my division," she said.
"It was really pleasing to see all of the hard work the team had been doing in the lead up pay off.
"Even though I fought 12 two-minute rounds in three days, I still felt like I was fighting with a lot of energy, right up to the end.
"I put that down to the hard work we did in the lead up and the support of my team.
"It really was a team effort."
Prest said she would now take a break from boxing until the end of the year, but in 2020 she was keen "to take the next step".
"At this point Spike [Syphers] is looking to help me prepare for my first professional fight at our next Gunnedah event in April," she said.
"We both think I'm ready to go pro and I honestly couldn't think of a better place to do it.
"Everyone in Gunnedah was super supportive of me over the weekend and I can't thank them enough.
"For now though, I'll be looking forward to going to the Gunnedah Fitness Co's Christmas Party and the hams race day on Saturday."