Jalen Tait looks to Liam Paro for inspiration as he takes on Ibrahim Balla

Jalen Tait (15-0, 8 KOs) will take another step up in class when he faces a resurgent Ibrahim Balla (16-2, 7 KOs) at Southport Sharks AFL Club on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia on Saturday night.

The 23-year-old southpaw from Townsville in North Queensland has developed a reputation as one of the most talented young prospects in the country since turning pro almost five years ago, but boxing wasn’t always in his future.

You could say that fate pushed him towards the square circle.

“At school I was bullied,” Tait told The Ring. “I’ve always been small, a lightweight. I was an easy victim, an easy target. It got to a point where I had to learn to defend myself because the bullying was getting that bad.

“I walked into the boxing gym and accidentally found out that I liked it. And then from there, it was a blessing really. I just continued on the path.

“If I hadn’t been bullied, I wouldn’t have even needed to go to the boxing gym. It’s funny how things work out, isn’t it?”

Not only did Tait discover he enjoyed boxing, but he quickly learned he was good at it. The naturally competitive teenager found early success. In his first year in the amateurs, he won the Golden Gloves, the state title, and the national crown.

“Just walking into the gym, I didn’t think I was going to fight,” said Tait. “I was just there for the off-season in the footy, trying to stay fit. I ended up enjoying the sparring and I gave fighting a go. I took it all the way in that first year and from there, it just clicked with me. I knew I wanted to do this.”

Success only increased his love of the sport, turning him into a student of the game.

“In my first year of boxing, my dad and I were looking up southpaw boxers,” said Tait. “There were the obvious ones, Manny Pacquiao and all that, but I’ve always liked the old-school fighters like Sugar Ray Leonard and guys from that era. So then we found Pernell Whitaker and we were like, ‘Who’s this guy?’. The way he would slip shots and come back firing punches from crazy angles; he made boxing look entertaining and fun. I really looked up to him from about the age of 14 onwards.”

Tait adopted some of Whitaker’s traits, but it wasn’t always easy to emulate the southpaw stylist’s unique moves.

“Every night before bed, I used to study his videos on YouTube and just try to pick up small things that he would do that would give him a slight advantage over his opponents,” Tait explained.

“It was difficult. If I got into an accident or something and had to re-do it all again, nah, I wouldn’t. It’s taken me so long.”

The Balla fight will be the second for Tait this year after his up-off-the-canvas victory over Ecuador’s Alexander Espinoza (18-2-1, 8 KOs) on a nationally televised card in March.

Tait controlled the early action in that fight with his speed and angles before Espinoza started timing him in the mid-rounds. He wrestled back control of the bout in the seventh stanza before a well-timed counter right hand from Espinoza dropped him in the ninth.

Tait survived the round and went on to claim a split decision victory by scores of 97-92, 94-95 and 96-93.

“That was definitely my favorite fight that I’ve had,” said Tait, who goes by the nickname ‘The Wolf’. “Espinoza is the number one boxer in his weight class in his country. I felt like I dominated a lot of the rounds until that ninth round. In fact, I felt like I was dominating the start of that round until I got the eight-count put on me.

“It was so good to be able to match it with a guy like that. He took that fight very seriously; I could tell that when I was in there with him. He had a good punch on him, good skills and a good bag of tricks. It was a good experience to see what level I was at. I really enjoyed that fight.

“I had to re-adjust in there. That’s what makes a good fighter. If you can’t re-adjust to different rhythms, you won’t get very far. You have to be able to think on your feet. Some guys have just one way of fighting and that’s what eventually gets them caught out in the end. But you have to adjust, and you have to fight good opponents who force you to do that, just like Espinoza did.”

Balla represents another step in Tait’s development. The 33-year-old Melburnian represented Australia at the 2012 London Olympics and has carved out a respectable record as a pro, despite suffering two early-round knockout losses. In December last year, Balla outboxed Youssef Dib to hand the younger brother of former IBF featherweight titlist Billy Dib his first professional loss via majority decision.

Tait is not taking him lightly.

“We’ve tried to cover all bases,” he said. “He had a very decorated amateur career. He’s got the experience, and he’s been around for a bit. I feel like he’s going to try to press up on me so I’ve been working on punch output and controlling the range a lot in this camp. Obviously I’m bigger than Balla, so I’m going to try to use that to my advantage as much as I can, but otherwise, it’s the same old. You can’t really reinvent the wheel. It’s boxing, isn’t it?

“I think Balla did surprise a few people last time out. He kind of came out of nowhere. Dib was undefeated and he’s not a bad fighter. I was impressed with how Balla composed himself in that fight, so I’m looking forward to getting in there and taking the [regional] belts off him.”

International Boxing Hall of Famer Whitaker might’ve been an early influence on Tait’s career, but it’s a former gym-mate he draws inspiration from now.

“When I started, I was lucky enough to have Liam Paro in the same gym where I was training, another southpaw as well. Everything I learned from the beginning, being a left-handed fighter, is from Liam,” said Tait of the newly-minted IBF junior welterweight titleholder.

“We trained together a lot and he inspired me. Obviously, he’s the world champion now, but back then, he had that same fire.

“He was really inspirational. He made it look fun. I was like, ‘I think I want to do this as well.’ And here we are.”

But the real lesson learned from Paro wasn’t so much how to hold your hands up and box from a southpaw stance. It was about paying it forward.

“If I can give just one kid that self-belief that was instilled into me when I was young, then I’d be happy,” said Tait.

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