10 Influential Leaders Shaping Boxing in the ACT

Last updated: August 2026

Introduction

These are 10 people currently leading boxing in the Australian Capital Territory, from the volunteer committee that governs the sport territory-wide to the club owners, head coaches and competing boxers who keep it running week to week. The list covers Boxing ACT's own office holders alongside the coaches and fighters based in Canberra and the wider Capital Region.

As of August 2026, boxing in the ACT runs almost entirely on a small, close-knit network: one governing body, a modest number of accredited gyms, and a handful of boxers competing for Australia on the international stage. There is no large paid administrative layer behind any of it. The names below are presented alphabetically by surname for easy navigation, not in any order of importance, so nobody should read placement as a measure of standing.

This list also honestly includes two people whose gym or hometown sits just across the ACT border, in Yass and Queanbeyan. Boxing ACT itself describes its own coverage as "the Capital Territory and surrounding region," and both people hold a Boxing ACT office or Boxing ACT representative role that anchors them to the territory, not just proximity to it. That honesty about scope matters more in a small jurisdiction like the ACT than it would in a larger city, where a strict boundary line would otherwise exclude people genuinely central to the territory's own governing body.

Whether you are new to the sport, looking for a gym, a sponsor weighing up who to support, or simply curious who keeps Canberra boxing running, this list is a starting point for understanding the people behind it and how the sport is actually organised on the ground.

Why boxing in the ACT matters

Boxing in the Australian Capital Territory is a small but genuinely functioning sporting ecosystem, run largely by volunteers and independent small business owners rather than by paid administrators. Understanding who leads it helps explain how the sport survives and grows in one of Australia's smaller jurisdictions.

Boxing ACT, the territory's governing body, oversees coach, judge and referee accreditation, boxer registration and safety standards, and it manages this almost entirely through an unpaid volunteer committee. That committee structure means the same small group of people often carries multiple responsibilities at once, from chairing meetings to matchmaking bouts to coaching beginners in their own gym on weeknights.

Beneath that governance layer sit around 15 accredited gyms and clubs across Canberra and the Capital Region, most led by a single owner-coach who built the business from a home garage, a PCYC hall or a rented industrial unit. Their consistency, more than any single event or title fight, is what keeps the sport accessible to newcomers year after year.

For a jurisdiction this size, the sport also depends heavily on a handful of competitors willing to represent the territory, and by extension Australia, at national and international level. Their results feed directly back into local interest, sponsorship conversations and the next generation of members walking through a gym door for the first time.

1. Dennis Arthur

Head Coach, PCYC Erindale Boxing

Dennis Arthur is the head coach of the boxing programme at PCYC Erindale in Wanniassa, one of Boxing ACT's accredited clubs. He runs the club's group and competition training out of the Erindale Centre and is the club's listed contact for anyone wanting to start boxing there.

Arthur has previously worked as a Boxing Australia Regional Development Coach, and has guided Canberra fighters toward genuine title opportunities, including steering a competitor to a WBC Australasian regional title shot. That grassroots-to-title pathway is exactly the kind of coaching depth PCYC Erindale is known for locally.

2. Ikenna Enyi

Coach, Stockade Training Centre

Ikenna Enyi coaches at Stockade Training Centre in Fyshwick, one of the territory's most established Boxing ACT accredited clubs, and is also one of the ACT's clearest current professional boxers. He works with athletes ranging from beginners to competitive amateurs alongside his own active fighting career.

Enyi turned professional as a cruiserweight in September 2024 after more than 100 amateur bouts, a run that included a World Cup silver medal in the United States and two Australian Golden Gloves titles. That combination of active competition and coaching gives his athletes a direct line to elite-level experience.

3. Adrian Farquhar

Co-owner and Coach, Farquhar's Boxing

Adrian Farquhar co-owns Farquhar's Boxing in Mitchell with his father, and coaches members of all levels at the gym while continuing to compete himself. Farquhar's Boxing is one of Boxing ACT's accredited clubs and runs daily classes for beginners through to competitive boxers.

Before turning professional, Farquhar won an Australian junior title and represented Australia at the junior boxing world titles in Ukraine and Europe. He now holds a Level 1 boxing coaching accreditation, putting his own competitive experience directly to use with the gym's members.

4. Garry Hamilton

President, Boxing ACT; Founder and Coach, Stockade Training Centre

Garry Hamilton is President of Boxing ACT, the territory's governing body, and is also the founder and a coach at Stockade Training Centre in Fyshwick, one of the ACT's longest-running accredited boxing clubs. He has led the club, in one form or another, for more than two decades.

Across that period, Hamilton has coached boxers to two Olympic Games, at Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008, along with multiple Commonwealth Games and Oceania Games medal results. Few coaches in the territory carry that combination of governance responsibility and elite coaching history.

5. Troy Huckstepp

Boxing ACT Committee Member; Coach, Farquhar's Boxing

Troy Huckstepp sits on the Boxing ACT committee and coaches at Farquhar's Boxing in Mitchell, where he works mainly with beginners and runs introductory classes for schoolkids new to the sport. He holds a Level 1 coaching accreditation.

Huckstepp came to boxing later than most, switching from rugby in his late thirties to stay fit, then moving into Masters-division competition from 2017. That path from newcomer to competitor to accredited coach mirrors the journey many of his own beginner students are just starting.

6. Gaz Rees

Founder and Head Trainer, Chopper's Gym

Gaz Rees founded Chopper's Gym, an accredited Boxing ACT club with locations in Dickson and Belconnen that trains members in boxing alongside Muay Thai and kickboxing. He leads the gym's coaching team and its combined striking-sports training style.

Rees is a World Muay Thai Council champion and a medallist at Iran's President's Cup, with training experience at Mejiro Gym in Amsterdam, Golden Glory and Sityodtong Gym in Thailand. That international competitive background shapes the technical standard members train to at his Canberra gym.

7. Aaron Reid

Vice President, Boxing ACT; Owner and Head Coach, The Valley Boxing Gym

Aaron Reid is Vice President of Boxing ACT, where he also serves as the territory's development and futures coach and matchmaker. He owns and runs The Valley Boxing Gym from his family home in Yass, part of the Capital Region that Boxing ACT itself covers.

Reid was named head coach of the Boxing ACT Under 19s team for the National Championships in Melbourne, with five of his own gym's boxers selected for that squad. A former state champion himself, he now teaches boxers as young as six and as old as 64.

8. Bryan Roberts

Head Coach, Full Throttle Boxing and Training Centre

Bryan Roberts is head coach at Full Throttle Boxing and Training Centre in Mitchell, one of Boxing ACT's accredited clubs, where he runs boxing-for-fitness classes for casual members as well as more focused coaching for those preparing to actually compete.

Before coaching, Roberts built a genuine competitive record that includes multiple state and national title belts, among them a WBF light heavyweight Australasian championship. That competitive background now directly underpins the coaching he brings to members training at the Mitchell gym, whatever their own goals.

9. Monique Suraci

Boxing ACT Committee Member; International Boxer

Monique Suraci sits on the Boxing ACT committee and is one of the territory's most visible current athletes, representing Australia at senior international level while remaining connected to the Capital Region boxing community that produced her.

Suraci competed for Australia at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and has continued competing internationally since, including at the 2025 World Boxing Championships in Liverpool and the World Boxing Cup in Brazil in 2026. Her ongoing international career sits alongside her committee role shaping the sport back home.

10. George Valmas

Owner and Head Coach, 8 Count Boxing

George Valmas owns and coaches 8 Count Boxing in Downer, an accredited Boxing ACT club that focuses squarely on teaching amateur-style boxing, with a strong emphasis on solid fundamentals for members at every level of experience.

Valmas brings 14 years of boxing experience to the gym, including specialised development camps completed under an Australian Olympic boxing coach. That grounding in fundamentals is central to how 8 Count Boxing structures its coaching for newer members finding their feet in the sport.

What these leaders show us about boxing in the ACT

Across these 10 profiles, a clear pattern emerges: boxing in the Australian Capital Territory is led almost entirely by people who do the coaching or competing themselves, not by separate administrators sitting apart from the gym floor. Several of the people on this list hold a formal Boxing ACT committee position and run their own gym at the very same time.

Another pattern is how small the territory's boxing world genuinely is. The same handful of clubs, most within a short drive of central Canberra, produce both the volunteers who govern the sport and the competitors who represent it nationally and internationally. Garry Hamilton's decades at Stockade Training Centre and Aaron Reid's dual role as Boxing ACT Vice President and Yass gym owner both illustrate how governance and grassroots coaching overlap in a small jurisdiction where nobody has the luxury of specialising in only one part of the sport.

A third pattern is the mix of pathways represented. Some leaders, like Adrian Farquhar and Ikenna Enyi, moved from competing themselves into coaching while still active in the ring. Others, like Troy Huckstepp, came to the sport as adults purely for fitness and stayed on to teach beginners once they found they loved it. That range of entry points is likely part of why the sport remains accessible to newcomers of very different backgrounds, ages and starting levels of fitness.

Finally, the list shows how directly grassroots coaching and elite performance sit next to each other in a small jurisdiction. A coach teaching a beginner their first jab on a Tuesday evening might be training under the same territory body as an athlete representing Australia at a World Championships the following month, and in several cases here, they are literally the same person.

How to use this list

If you are looking to start boxing in the ACT, the clubs named in this list are a genuine starting point. Each is accredited by Boxing ACT, which oversees coach accreditation and safety standards territory-wide, so contacting any of these gyms directly is a reasonable and safe first step, whether you want to compete or simply train for fitness.

If you already train or compete, these are useful people to know by name: several hold Boxing ACT committee positions that shape how the territory's competitions, accreditation and safety standards are run, so understanding who they are helps you engage more effectively with the sport's governance, whether that means raising a question at an annual general meeting or simply knowing who to ask about accreditation requirements.

If you are a sponsor, journalist or local organisation wanting to support boxing in the ACT, this list is a reasonable map of who to approach, whether that is a specific gym for a community programme or the Boxing ACT committee for a territory-wide initiative. None of this implies a personal endorsement from any external party; it is simply a starting point for your own outreach and further research.

If you are simply curious about the sport, use this list as a way to follow along. Watching how a small volunteer-led committee and a handful of independent gyms keep producing genuine national and international competitors is, in itself, a useful case study in what a small, well-run sporting community can achieve without a large budget behind it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who runs Boxing ACT? Boxing ACT is run entirely by a volunteer committee, currently led by President Garry Hamilton and Vice President Aaron Reid, alongside a secretary, several committee members and co-opted members. Between them, this small committee oversees coach and referee accreditation, boxer registration, matchmaking and safety standards across the whole territory.

Where can I train boxing in Canberra? Boxing ACT accredits around 15 gyms and clubs across Canberra and the Capital Region, including PCYC Erindale, Stockade Training Centre, Farquhar's Boxing, Chopper's Gym, Full Throttle Boxing and Training Centre and 8 Count Boxing. Each is listed on Boxing ACT's own gyms directory, and most welcome complete beginners alongside competitive boxers.

Is there professional boxing based in the ACT? Yes. Canberra has active professional boxers training and coaching locally, including Stockade Training Centre coach Ikenna Enyi, who turned professional as a cruiserweight in September 2024 after building a substantial amateur career that included more than 100 bouts and two Australian Golden Gloves titles.

Does the ACT have any current Olympic-level boxers? Yes. Monique Suraci, a Boxing ACT committee member connected to the Capital Region, represented Australia at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and has continued competing for Australia at senior international level since, including at the 2025 World Boxing Championships and the 2026 World Boxing Cup.

Do I need to be an elite athlete to join a Boxing ACT club? No. Most accredited gyms named in this list, including The Valley Boxing Gym and 8 Count Boxing, cater to complete beginners and members training purely for general fitness, alongside anyone with genuine competitive ambitions in the sport, and coaches at these clubs are used to working with people at every level.

Conclusion

Boxing in the Australian Capital Territory is a small sport with an outsized amount of genuine leadership packed into it. The 10 people on this list carry Boxing ACT's governance, run its accredited clubs, and compete for Australia, often more than one of those roles at once and usually without any paid support behind them.

What stands out is how much of this work happens without paid administrative infrastructure. Committee positions are unpaid, most gyms are small independent businesses built up over years by one or two people, and the coaches named here typically also train, spar or compete themselves rather than working purely as administrators watching from the sidelines.

That combination, volunteer governance plus hands-on coaching plus genuine international competition, is not a given in a jurisdiction this size. It exists because a small number of committed people keep showing up, year after year, to run committee meetings, open gym doors and get in the ring themselves.

If you want to get involved in boxing in the ACT, whether as a participant, a sponsor or simply someone curious about the sport, the people and clubs named in this list are a genuine, current starting point. Reach out to an accredited gym near you, or follow Boxing ACT's own channels for territory-wide news and events.

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Jonno White: Certified Working Genius Facilitator (Australia)

About Jonno White

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Bring this kind of clarity to your own team

Leading a small volunteer committee or a growing local club takes many of the same skills as leading any team: clear roles, honest conversations and a shared sense of what good looks like. If your organisation, club or business is wrestling with those same challenges, I would be glad to help through a keynote, workshop or facilitated leadership session. Get in touch at jonno@consultclarity.org.

About the Author

Jonno White is a Brisbane-based leadership consultant, keynote speaker and Certified Working Genius Facilitator, and the author of Step Up or Step Out. He works with schools, corporates and nonprofits around the world. To enquire about a keynote, workshop or facilitated leadership session, email jonno@consultclarity.org.