JOEL Brunker is a Hawkesbury lad through and through and never wants to leave the region he grew up in.
Brunker was born in Windsor and grew up in Richmond, and as many Gazette readers would know, was a bit of a wild child.
He attended Richmond Public School and Richmond High School, but as a young man spent more and more time being a ‘naughty boy’.
The Richmond Train Station was a favourite haunt of Brunker and his mates while they were up to no good in his younger years.
It all changed, however, when Brunker took up boxing. He completely turned his life around.
His new favourite haunt was the Richmond Boxing Club, off Bosworth Street.
In fact, it has been his favourite haunt for the past 18 years as he built a successful boxing career.
If you strolled into the building most afternoons, you would find Brunker either relaxing after a day of work, or getting ready for another gruelling training session.
You’ll also find one of the Hawkesbury’s friendliest residents, who loves a good yarn.
In fact, if you did not already know his story, you would be forgiven if it was a surprise to learn he was a professional boxer who once had a 27-0 record and had been to the 2004 Olympic Games.
His career has taken him all over the world, but Joel said he would always return to the Hawkesbury.
“I’ve represented the country many, many times, but I’ve always come back to the Hawkesbury,” he said.
“All my friends and family are in the Hawkesbury. I’ve been here my whole life and I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.”
Not long after walking through the doors of the Richmond Boxing Club, Brunker teamed up with boxing coach John Barber, for what would become a very successful relationship between the pair.
Barber left the club recently, after running it for a very long time, and Brunker has taken it upon himself to see that it remains open.
“I want to keep it going. It is where I got my start, it got me off the streets and running amok,” he told The Gazette in 2016.
“It is a proper old school boxing gym and it is great and that is why I don't want to let it go.”
- Joel Brunker is one of the ‘featured faces’ in the We Are Hawkesbury: 100 Faces Photographic Exhibition, which runs from June 29 to July 2 at the Richmond School of Arts. The exhibition is open 10am until 3pm each day, and entry is via gold coin donation which will go to the Hawkesbury Living Cancer Trust.
