Mackenzie now fully focused on coaching after stepping down as pro boxer
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Liall Mackenzie says his focus is now on helping the next generation of local boxers to fulfil their potential after choosing to quit the pro ranks.
The 33-year-old from Wick was having to travel to Inverness once or twice a week for sparring, and a major factor in his decision was the escalating cost of accommodation in the Highland capital.
Mackenzie made a triumphant pro comeback when he beat Polish fighter Marek Laskowski in four rounds as part of the Highland Skirmish at Inverness Leisure Centre at the end of May.
It was Mackenzie's first professional fight since February 2018. He was being coached by Liam Foy from Highland Boxing Academy.
Mackenzie, who works as a Wick airport firefighter, is the founder and head coach of Caithness Boxing Club.
“With me signing again, it coincided with the cost of living going up in general, and Inverness was getting more and more expensive," he said this week.
“We've got the club up here, they're all amateur boxers at novice level. For me to get sparring, I had to go to Inverness.
“I was down once or sometimes twice a week and I was obviously having to pay for hotels and B&Bs – and it's not far off twice the price it was four or five years ago.
“That's the financial side of it.
"The whole year leading up to that I was working full-time, and running the boxing club, which I did take a little step back from, but then the boxing club suffered because of it, and then trying to train as a professional athlete, and obviously there's a lot of mental strain leading up to a fight...
“If I lived down there it would be a totally different story. It's just the logistics of it.
“As soon as the fight was over I just felt satisfied, I felt as if the itch was fully scratched, and I just felt content. I didn't feel like I needed to do it any more.
“I just realised that I now get more from coaching the young ones coming through than I do from fighting myself.
As soon as the fight was over I just felt satisfied, I felt as if the itch was fully scratched... I didn't feel like I needed to do it any more.
“Now I'm focusing fully on the coaching. I'm still going up and down the road a lot, but now it's taking my boxers up and down for sparring so they can experience it.”
Caithness Boxing Club has more than 50 members with sessions for three age groups – 9-11, 12-17 and 18-plus.
Mackenzie and another coach will be taking six club members to the 2022 Boxing Scotland National Development Championships, formerly known as the novice championships, being held at the Ravenscraig Regional Sports Facility in Motherwell over the first two weekends of November.
He added: "I've got high hopes for a few of them. I'm hoping that we are going to get a medal this year."
