TOURNAMENT REPORT BY DAMIAN RIDPATH.
Merseyside and Cheshire
ABA Schoolboy squad took part in their first ever team match@ Walton
Sports Centre on Sunday 2Oth December beating the North West Region team 5-3.
Due to the inclement weather the tournament was depleted to 8 bouts plus 2 supports
as several members of the North West Region team failed to arrive after being
stuck in snow in Lancashire. The crowd were treated to 10 well matched
excellent contests.
James Collins (Salisbury
ABC) was first up against James Sullivan after a excellent first rd with
Collins scoring well with his rear hand he was outworked over the last two by
Sullivan whom took a close majority points decision. Scott Rankin of Knowsley
Vale boxed excellently listening to the corner instructions to clearly outscore
Aaron Grey. Scott boxed patiently and tactically leaving Aaron to make mistakes
and countered superbly. James Vaughan Kirkdale adopted similar tactics and
defeated James Clitheroe clearly .James outmaneuvered his southpaw opponent and
landing cleanly throughout the bout with rear hands and left hooks an another
excellent performance. Louis Donnelly St.Alysious made the team match 3-1 as he
defeated Billy Lee on points. Louis outsmarted the very strong and aggressive
Lee counterpunching with clean shots throughout the first two rounds. Billy
came on strong in the third but Louis kept wisely out of danger to secure the
victory. Ray Hampson of Birkenhead Venture was outstanding in stopping Harry
Thompson in the second round. Ray with a very loose hands down style scoring
excellent shots against a very game opponent whom never stopped trying. With
the match at 4-1 Merseyside and Cheshire required one more win to secure the
match, however the North West Region won the next two bouts as Sabir Iqbal
defeated Mesech Russell of the Golden Gloves on points in an excellent contest
Sabir cleaner straight shots the difference between the boxers and Liam Gregory
Salisbury beaten on points by the extremely strong Saul Stanton. Liam boxed
well but Saul's aggressive and strength put him in position to score a few
extra shots throughout the bout. The final bout between Jamie Hopwood of
Phoenix Olympic and Kaleb Dugdale was excellent especially with the team match
result on the line Kaleb started well scoring with a couple of shots and was
very aggressive like some of his counterparts earlier in the day this was to be
his undoing as Jamie regained his composure and scored well particularly with
his southpaw back hand. Jamie went from strength to strength in the second and
third round with intelligent use of counterpunching mixed with counter attacks
to defeat Kaleb well. Kaleb survived 3 inspections on his nose from the doctor
throughout the bout.
The team was led by
Damian Ridpath LCCBDO whom also is the lead coach for the schoolboy team and
regional coach Chris Cain. Damian said" This was an excellent days worth
of boxing particularly given the bad weather we did well to get the match on at
all and a big thankyou must be given to the North West Region lads for making
it. The boxers have been attending squads for 3 months now and this was the
first team match and all the boxers performed very well. Several kids today
wearing the regional vest gave them extra inspiration and this will only bode
well for the future as boxing in representative matches like this develops
their experience and provides an excellent pathway towards England selection in
the future."
other results Chris
Farley Salisbury won points Harry Woods Kirkby, and Shane Jackman Sutton won
points Sam Ayres Phoenix Olympic.