Gosport Boxing Club's Mateusz Bereznicki retains Polish national title and gets first taste of senior World Championships

The hot prospect picked up two stoppage wins before beating compatriot Mateusz Kubiszyn to recapture the under-92kg senior Polish title he first won last year in front of his family in his hometown of Wałbrzych.

The Gosport Boxing Club member, who has spent the vast majority of this year training in Poland, also competed at senior World Championship level for the first time last month.

Bereznicki, 20, suffered a split decision defeat in his first bout, but that was no disgrace given he was coming up against a European under-22 champion in Kazakhstan's Aybek Oralbay in Serbia.

Added to that, 'Big Bez', as he's known at his Gosport club, defeated reigning Italian under-92kg senior champion Roberto Lizzi on a Suzuki Boxing Night Show prior to reclaiming his Polish national senior prize - and remains the under-23 champion in his homeland as well.

And Bereznicki believes a busy period of competition will provide a valuable learning experience - particularly having been able to taste a World Championships at senior level for the first time.

He said: ‘This year I’ve gained the most experience I’ve ever gained in terms of hard fights and everything.

‘I had the under-22s (Euro Champs), those were hard fights as well against the best in Europe, now I’ve boxed the best in the world.

‘The experience was amazing and I’ll only learn from that because you just have to. You need to learn from experiences like that.

‘I just want more fights like that, like the one against the lad from Kazakhstan, and others like that.

‘It was probably the best experience in my life (being part of World Champs). No matter the result, it was something special for me.

‘We stayed for the whole tournament, we got to see all the world champions, and experience it right until the very end.’

In a packed second half of 2021, Bereznicki came away with a medal for his country at the under-22 European Championships in June in Italy.

A fiery semi-final defeat to Russia's Vladimir Uzunian meant he missed out on gold, but he still came away with a bronze gong.

With Bereznicki already setting his sights firmly on going all the way in the under-22 Euro event which take place in Croatia in March.

He added: ‘Next year is the under-22s (Euro Champs) again. When I’m back in England I’m not doing boxing for a whole month, definitely.

‘I’m considered as one of the best boxers (amateurs) in the world now because I’ve boxed in the World Championships so that was a big deal.

‘It gives me very big confidence because the first fight, I lost it, but I almost won it and I proved I belong there. I’m definitely winning that under-22 (Euros) title in March, 100 per cent.’