TWO brothers from Tilbury made history after seeing off opponents from across the globe at the Unified World Kickboxing Championships.

Joe Shelton, 16, and brother Billy, 12, won nine gold medals as part of the Great Britain team in Italy - winning every fight.

The unprecedented success at the age level comes seven years after the pair got involved in the sport for the first time.

Joe fought in -63kg kickboxing, -65kg kickboxing under WKA and Unified rules sets and won all categories.

Billy fought in a host of disciplines, including ABF unified boxing rules (-48kg), WKA Kickboxing rules 12-14 years (-47kg), WKA Light contact rules 12-14 (+45kg), unified rule kickboxing 11-13 years (-48kg), unified kickboxing rules 11-13 years (+45kg).

The boys travelled out with 26 other competitors from around the country, and excelled.

Coached by parents Bill and Lisa, the pair train at the SXF Gym, in Tilbury, and mum Lisa praised the duo’s application.

“I am so so proud of these two young boys,” she said. “People don’t understand just how much work has to go into preparation for something like this. They have to commit a lot of time to this and have school and everyday life to contend with as well.

“When they have fights in the UK the boys are paired with an opponent and we work out what we need to to give them the best opportunity of success.

“But when attending this event, we cannot work on game plans or anything and just have to turn up on the day.

“With more than 4,000 competitors we simply have to be the best we can be, facing multiple opponents to work through the elimination process and get into finals to win categories.

“That is what happened and we are both proud of their efforts.”