Kill or be killed was the proposition awaiting boxer Jamie Weetch as a 22 year old in his home town of Cwmcarn, Wales. The brother at the center of a decade-long family feud that nearly cost Jamie his life had just been released from prison, having served three years of a six year sentence for shooting him in the face. Jamie knew it wouldn't be long before trouble kicked off again. After consulting with his family he made the decision to flee for a fresh start at the bottom of the world, in Western Australia, where he'd try his hands at the local boxing trade.
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Raised in the working class Welsh 'village' of Cwmcarn, Jamie was bullied all the way through school by the same three brothers - one younger, and two older. In Wales that meant merciless gang floggings, often with weapons, harassment of his family, destruction of his property (after putting his car up for sale once he returned to find every panel beaten in and was forced to sell it to a scrap yard), and not just by the brothers but their friends too. As a ten year old, his father gave him the only advice he could think of: learn to fight. So he did, joining a local gym, where he proved an ardent student and with time a technically gifted pugilist. Naturally he took the fight to the bullies, first in the ring and then out of it."I fought the guy in the ring like and I just nailed him," he recalls, "And then I was like, these boys can't bully me any more like, you know. And then as soon as they tried it on I opened a can of whoop arse, I just bashed them, you know, " he recalls.

For a boxer coming of age in provincial Wales, there were no shortage of drunks, gangsters and wannabe hardmen out to prove themselves against you. An elder respected pro from the gym Jamie fought out of was also targeted by thugs and eventually beaten with a plank of wood that left him with a fractured eye socket and him unable to fight again."It's a shame, lovely boy like as well you know…just dickheads thinking they're 'ard you know. If you're a boxer back home there's always someone trying to prove themselves," he says.
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Among his early jobs, Jamie served as a scrapyard attendant for an owner who was longtime benefactor of the local boxing scene. He saw promise in Jamie and agreed to fund his early travels to fight. Following a promising amateur career, Jamie grew tired of the headgear and soft rules opting instead for the British underground - or 'unlicensed' - boxing circuit. Held in pubs, underground clubs, Town Halls and community centres, he would find himself up against anyone from aspiring pros like himself to local pub brawlers."It was good like you know. I come across some good boys, I had a touch up here and there. Most of them were, likesay, pub fighters who thought they could fight and they'd get in there and you'd get in there and you'd flog em you know," he says.
For a working man from rural Wales, the money was good - around 250 Pounds a fight. He'd average once a week (the most he had was four in a seven day span: "I had a bit of concussion after that.") The fighter would also pocket a percentage of ticket sales for fights in his hometown, bringing Jamie's income up to around 400-500 pounds a week - or a month's rent, as he puts it.It was not as dodgy as you'd think, says Jamie, describing the scene as a mix of honest, old fashioned boxing fans in the more rural parts of Wales and Britain. Down to something ripped straight out of a Guy Ritchie film once you reached the cities."The shows there were definitely run by gangsters I'd say," he says.
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"I went in one fight there were 2500 people in there and there was some nasty looking guys there you know. They looked like they meant business you know. Whether they were gangsters I don't know but they looked the business," he says, though adds, "some of them boys are still lovely though."
In 2012 he claimed the British Underground title in Staffordshire, Britain, knocking his opponent out one minute into the first round. Back home, however, the family feud had escalated. Unable to beat Jamie with their fists the cowards turned to weapons. During one vicious attack, Jamie was stabbed in the neck and beaten with a two kilo dumbbell."We squared off and he stuck a knife in my neck but I didn't even realise it. I just felt a sharp pain like he'd punched me. So then he runs straight in his house and I turn round and I grab my neck and I just lost my finger in there, and I was like, fuck," he says.But it wasn't over. As he turned back around the man bashed him over the head with a two kilo dumbbell. As Jamie staggered around severely injured, the other brother ran out of the house and hurled another dumbbell at him but it missed. As it was the attack nearly proved fatal, with Jamie hospitalised and forced to undergo surgery."I never go to the police like. I'd rather sort it out on the street you know, no weapons, just fight. Sort it out, shake the hands at the end of it. That's the way I am like. But they couldn't leave it, they were terrorising my family. I flogged a few brothers then, I went mad, I just went through them," he says.
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The police also caught up with the brother who stabbed Jamie and he was handed a 12 month suspended sentence for the attack. Nearly to the day it ran out, he returned with a pellet pistol and shot Jamie point blank in the face."I thought it was a real gun like you know. This guy was holding me against the car…and I was saying pull the trigger then, pull the trigger. I thought it was a real gun. I remember him saying, I've run out of pellets, where are the pellets? I just wiped my face and I was just pissing blood like," he recalls."I slapped the guy on top of me and then slapped him (with the gun) and then they just kicked the shit out of me so I pegged it up the road."The shooter got six years in prison and the other brother two years. With two of the brothers locked up the attacks stopped but Jamie still decided to move away. Once they were released he knew it would only be a matter of time before he ended up in prison for killing one of them or he was killed himself."Moving here was the only option I had because I didn't wanna die and I didn't want to go to jail," he says.The longest either of the brothers served was three years. Jamie was at the pub with his sister for her welcome home party when one of them walked in."I just thought oh my god, I hadn't seen him in so long. I'm just gonna kill him like," he recalls."But the things he used to say to my mother, like I'm gonna rape your daughter, I'm gonna kill your son, I had to keep that in my head. I knew my sister was staying home and I was moving to Australia. I had to smooth it over with him like," he recalls.
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"I just walked up to him and the first thing he said was, nawwww, I don't want it. I was like, good, I don't want it either. I'm happy to leave it here. You can shake my hand or we can get it on. It's up to yourself. And he shook my hand and we left it there," he says.
Arriving in Australia Jamie worked manual labour jobs, allowing him just enough time to get down to the local gym and show his wares. He quickly impressed a well known local trainer who began organising him fights. With a record of 8-2 currently, his biggest fight came this February when he fought Albert Howell (8-1-3 draws) for the Super Welterweight State Title, winning the fight in a split points decision. As soon as it was announced, Jamie invited his fiancee into the ring, dropped to his knee, and proposed to her. She said yes.This all happened before Jamie learned he'd been fighting his entire career with splintered and 'floating' bones in his left elbow courtesy of an arthritic condition he'd had since he was a child. That's not to say he wasn't aware of the pain. Whenever Jamie missed with a left, and his arm overextended, he would feel a horrible shooting pain up the limb. He had never seen a *physio until he reached Australia and once he did was referred for surgery. He will have it operated on in late December, keeping him out for a further six weeks on top of ten he's already missed. His return but the lay off is already "killing" him.
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"I would have been out of the ring 12 months you know and it's killing me, seeing the boys I've beaten, seeing boys fucking winning titles and I'm thinking I should be fucking doing it you know? It's soul destroying, it's hard, it hurts more than anything. It fucks me off cos I should be the one doing it," he says.
In 2012 Jamie won a British Underground (or unlicensed) boxing title.
Once back, with a clean bill of health - for the first time in his career - he is confident nothing can stop him from achieving his goals of a national and Commonwealth title."I'm just going out there and I'm going through them," he says."I hope to be fighting for an Australian title by the middle of the year. Whoever is in the light middle division in Australia I'm just gonna be coming through em. Trust me, I promise you. I'm gonna walk through em all and then I'm gonna come for the Commonwealth (title) and maybe the European (title)," he says.
*Prior to having the arm diagnosed, Jamie had also been complaining of pain in his back. When he threw left rips he would often drop straight to the canvas in agony. He turned out to have a fractured vertebrae, something he believes might have been done to him by a chiropractor.
