Local tradie and a craftsman in the ring, Will Pollard, has just won the WBC Australasia Silver Lightweight Title at Dunc Gray velodrome in Sydney.

The result, however, is no surprise to Dubbo Photo News as, over the past two years, we have followed the journey of this young carpenter who has been earning his stripes in the boxing ring.

Pollard’s immense talent was honed initially by Dubbo’s 1976 Olympian, Brian Tink, before heading into the gym under multiple World Champion, Jeff Fenech, in Sydney.

This raw talent has now been welded into a so-far unbeaten boxing champion, crowned last week as Australasian Champ for his weight division.

"Will is the most dedicated athlete I have trained,” Brian Tink told Dubbo Photo News when Mel Pocknall and I headed out to take in a session of drills and hard-hitting bag work a couple of years ago.

“This bloke has been plying his trade as a chippy since he left school, but he puts down his nail gun, wraps his hands and tightens up his gloves for some work on the bags and sparring with me and other trainees,” Brian revealed

Over the past couple of seasons, Will has relocated to train full-time under Jeff Fenech and they have travelled overseas for intensive workouts and fights in Thailand.

‘We are heading back with a group of boxers next week,” Brian said.

“The workouts in Thailand against some very sharp and extremely tough ringmasters, has brought Will to a stage that I don’t think even he imagined he would reach in such a short time.”

His rise in the ring, he observed, has been just as meteoric.

“He has been so impressive that, in his three professional bouts on the way to the acclaimed Australasian title, he has fought less than three rounds!

“He is tough and strong and very accurate in his punching and has all the critics singing his praises,” a proud Tink said.

Strength and conditioning are the backbone for any athlete with Will having these in abundance.

His Dad, Brett, competed for Australia in the World Junior Championships in the 1980s and has obviously passed on his genes.

We will continue to follow the upward path of the “swinging tradie” from Dubbo that, who knows, might see him with a World championship in the footsteps of one of the greatest Aussie boxers, Jeff “The Marrickville Mauler” Fenech!