I'm in the Union

Wade Clout

LITTLE SLUGGER: That's how he is known to his workmates on the Port Kembla wharves. But in the boxing fraternity he is the pit bull. And on May 23 Wade Clout lived up to his name.

Cheered on by around 30 MUA members and officials at the Wollongong Fraternity Club, Clout took out the Oceania Boxing Association welterweight title.

Wade wore his opponent Fijian Wahid Khan down with body punches in the second round, stopping him short in the third round with left rips.

Now he is up for a national title and a shot at the Pan Pacific Championship. Clout already holds the NSW lightweight and junior welterweight titles.

At 25 years of age Wade has 24 fights under his belt, one in New Caledonia.

"My whole family were brought up in boxing," said Wade. My old man and his brother were both boxers so I thought I'd give it a go and keep it in the family."

Wade is a supp in Port Kembla. His trainer Vito Gaudosi, former Australian middleweight champion, also used to work on the wharves in Port Kembla.

The Maritime Union boasts a long line of top boxers, among them Australia's first world bantamweight champion Jimmy Carruthers and Lightweight Boxing Champion of Australia Jack Hassen who died last year (see MWJ, Autumn, 2003).

Wades next fight was scheduled for July. He then hopes to go on and have a shot at the Pan Pacific Championship. That would get him a ranking of 15 with the International Boxing Federation.