![Michael Borradaile looks laser-focused at the Clash of the Titans promotion at the Tamworth Regional Entertainment and Conference Centre on July 6, 2024. Picture by Garth Gardner Michael Borradaile looks laser-focused at the Clash of the Titans promotion at the Tamworth Regional Entertainment and Conference Centre on July 6, 2024. Picture by Garth Gardner](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/KUhQizDbwW8WqAyPP4x5yp/a725fa73-4b7b-435b-8f45-41311630cc76.jpg/r0_0_6050_4032_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
A strength resides inside Michael Borradaile that shields him from the taunts of bullies, but also reinforces his desire to unleash that power in a most foreboding arena.
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In a world the Boggabri teen knows well, where being small often places a target on your back, he walks assuredly in the company of a sport he loves with a passion reflecting its transcendent effect on him.
Four years after walking into Gunnedah institution Black 'n' Blue Boxing, the 16-year-old is in the midst of a life-defining experience sparked by his first fight last year, which he won at 45 kilograms.
Now eight fights into a career of two wins and two losses (plus four exhibitions), the St Mary's College, Gunnedah year 11 student wants to one day go pro and earn one of the world's hardest pay cheques.
That's the person who ultimately emerged from a conversation weeks in the making, that began when the Leader caught up with Borradaile outside the Tamworth Regional Entertainment and Conference Centre. There to fight on the Clash of the Titans card, he emitted a palpable intensity in keeping with the task at hand.
Following his 50 kilogram exhibition bout [no winner was declared] against Kobe Hunt of Tamworth's One2Boxing, Borradaile's dark eyes peered out past his bloodied nose as he fought a new opponent: emotion. Reflecting on how he felt at that moment, in which he was too emotional to be interviewed, he said:
"Then I didn't really know how I went. I just thought that I sorta got bashed. He hit pretty hard. [But] I watched a recording of the fight ... then I realised that I didn't do as bad as I thought."
Borradaile was speaking from the Boggabri home he shares with his mother and father, Mercy and David, and his 13-year-old brother Keith, who also boxes but doesn't want to fight, according to his elder sibling, who had just returned from boxing training.
"I used to get bullied a lot because I was short," Borradaile said, "and my dad wanted me to get into boxing. So I tried it, and I liked it."
"I think it's helped me a lot," he said of the sport, "because it gives me more confidence. I used to not really have confidence, because I was short and people made fun of me."
![Borradaile outside the Tamworth Regional Entertainment and Conference Centre on July 6, 2024, ahead of his fight on the well-received Clash of the Titans promotion. Picture by Mark Bode Borradaile outside the Tamworth Regional Entertainment and Conference Centre on July 6, 2024, ahead of his fight on the well-received Clash of the Titans promotion. Picture by Mark Bode](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/KUhQizDbwW8WqAyPP4x5yp/28de3366-c58b-420f-8d53-31c18db4608b.jpg/r0_0_4032_3024_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"But sometimes they still say stuff," he went on, "because they don't actually think I'm good because I'm really short and not as big as them. But I just try to ignore them, because I know that I'm good."
The teen also knows his folks dearly love him. Mercy drives him the 30 minutes to Gunnedah for training, then waits in the car until he is finished.
His father loved him boxing, Borradaile said, adding that the ancient sport was the only thing he was truly good at.
"I really wanna be a professional when I get the opportunity to, when I'm older, because I really enjoy it. It's just helped me a lot, and I love it."