A YEAR away from his sport has provided Jundumarra Layton with the hunger to take his boxing to the next level.
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The Wauchope teenager has returned to his sport after a short lay off and it's clear the break has had an immediate affect on the youngster having won a Golden Gloves title held recently in Queensland.
It was a mutual decision between Jundumarra and his father to take some time off from the hectic training and boxing schedule.
"I thought it would be good for him to have some time off for a while and he agreed," Jundumarra's father Jimmy said.
"It was important he got to go back to just being a kid for a while and hanging out with his mates."
But the thrill of the fight soon became too much for the youngster and he made a return to the ring.
"It was around the time the Travers kids went away to fight, and then, with Shelley winning Commonwealth gold," Jimmy said.
"He nagged me for about a month before I thought he was serious and I agreed for him to get back into it."
Jundumarra said he enjoyed the extended break but admitted he missed the thrill of the ring.
"I was missing some of the mates that I'd met at tournaments and just the hype of getting in the ring," he said.
"It's an adrenaline rush type of thing.
"You don't remember when you come out, 10 minutes after the fight it's all a blur."
The youngster previously trained out of Kendall, but after moving to Wauchope the travel became too much and the Bunya Aboriginal Land Council stepped in to provide a space to train close by.
Jundumarra and his family got to cleaning out a small shed and erected a makeshift ring.
"It keeps us out of the rain, away from the mosquitoes, it's all we need," he said.
"We don't have the best gear but we showed we can still win golden gloves."
Despite the humble training facilities Jundumarra said he had a serious goal of making the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games team.
Bunyah Land Council CEO Guy Jones said they were only happy to help out.
"For us, as a Land Council and the committee if we can help each other and provide things to help people we will," he said.
"Full credit to them, they got in there and they cleaned it out and made it what it is.
"Jundumarra is a humble young man, he even got up and thanked the Land Council during a meeting.
"We will keep supporting and following his career."