BOXING

All the up-to-date news from the Boston boxing scene

Latest news and reports for 2006

News for week ending November 5, 2006

Boston Amateur Boxing Club fighters travelled to a clutch of venues over a busy weekend’s action programme. Five members saw action. Among them was Denis Watson who contested the second round of the All England ABA Championships at Inkley. He turned in a superb performance to restrict three-times All-Midlands champion John Jeavons to a points-win decision. Watson met his opponent’s early aggression with retaliation of his own in the opening rounds that gave him confidence that he might cause an upset. However, the more experienced man from Birmingham had another gear to go and took the final round with superior boxing.

Meanwhile at Scunthorpe, Boston ABC’s Kevin Pagden delivered hard and telling punches far too often for his rival Mark Leather. Forced on to the back foot, the lad from Scunthorpe evaded many of Pagden’s assaults by keeping his defence tight and making use of a big ring. But with energy to spare, Pagden was able to play catch-up in the final round. However, a doggedly determined Leather survived most of Pagden’s attacking waves as the Boston boxer took a points decision.

At Norwich, Boston Jamie Holland took on Cambridge’s Matthew Crowe and the pair served up a crowd-pleasing display in a well-matched contest. Holland applied the pressure in the closing stages, catching the judges’ eye in the process and edging the decision his way.

Elsewhere on the programme, David Mays of Norwich capitalised on James Curry’s slow start and racked up the points, combining defensive skills with aggression. Although Curry dominated the final round, Mays’ earlier work was the decisive factor.

Another Boston fighter, Alex Ouaked met Michael Jacks of Cambridge and fought a lively contest. The Boston boxer’s reluctance to keep the pressure on when he had the upper hand allowed Jacks to stay in the contest and ultimately grab the victor’s spoils.

News for week ending October 22, 2006

Denis Watson of Boston Amateur Boxing club emerged victorious in the first stage of the All-England Amateur Championships held in Derby. The local ace met Buxton’s Chris Broomhead and after some tentative opening exchanges, Watson scored fairly well with some good head and body shots. And things carried on in positive fashion for Watson in the second round when he maintained a commendably aggressive approach that had his rival repeatedly on the defensive. In the end, Broomhead had his stamina well and truly sapped and in the third round the referee halted proceedings in favour of the dominant Watson.

Elsewhere, James Curry also found winning form when representing the Boston club in a fight night at Peterborough. He took on Chris Creedon of Wisbech and packed far too much know-how for his opponent. Plenty of aggression allied to good defensive techniques ensured Curry always held the upper hand. In the end, a unanimous points verdict went Curry’s way.

News for week ending August 25, 2006

The doors to Boston Amateur Boxing Club’s gymnasium in Field Street are being opened on Monday September 4 for a new season. Further training sessions will be held on Wednesday and Thursday evenings — all with a 6.30pm start. A starting age of 10 upwards is regarded as the acceptable point for joining the club. Shorts, tops or tracksuit, plus light footware are all the items needed as a hard-working committee keep subscriptions affordable to all. Qualified coaches determine whether a member is suited to participate in the most demanding of sports. And this assessment is followed by a stringent medical examination by a registered doctor before boys are allowed to represent the club. Officials say strict supervision also ensures that the interest and well-being of youngsters is at the fore in training and competitive boxing and that the camaraderie associated with amateur boxing will be upheld. However, the club cannot, at the beginning of the season, accommodate anyone wanting to use it for fitness purposes only until there is a levelling off of members wishing to box competitively.

News for week ending July 2, 2006

Boston Amateur Boxing Club is re-opening its gymnasium facilities in Field Street, Boston, for some beginners’ only nights. These will be on Tuesday and Thursday evenings with 6.30pm starts. These sessions start on Tuesday July 11. Boxers aged 10 years and upwards are welcome to attend.

Subscription rates have been pitched at an affordable level for all. Light footwear, vests, shorts or tracksuits are the only attire needed.

News for week ending April 30, 2006

Boston Amateur Boxing Club coach-turned-promoter Lea Hurford and his wife Clare gave spit and polish to a prestigious amateur event in Boston. The pair paid every attention to detail for the audience who attended the amateur boxing dinner tournament in aid of charity held at the Peter Paine Sports Centre on Saturday evening.

There was a champagne welcome, superb donated raffle prizes, a comedian (clean to please) plus memorabilia of sporting icons up for auction. And all fitted in snugly with 11 bouts of boxing.

This included the main event featuring Scottish international and local boy Callum Johnson representing his own club Lincoln Terry Allen ABC against Spennymoor ABC’s Stuart McCrone. Throughout the four rounds, Johnson boxed on the front foot and his all-out attacking flair reduced McCrone to spoiling tactics to carry him through. And when he did come out of his shell and scored with the odd right-hander Johnson was untroubled and eased to a unanimous win.

Boston’s Jamie Holland, fleet of foot, picked up his points with the left lead. And when his opponent — Corby’s Paul Brown — threatened, the Boston junior warded off the danger in aggressive style.

Anthony Elding looked good for two rounds as he had the better of Scott Wallington. The lad from Newark spent most of the contest on the ropes defending and looked out of it. Elding, however, eased up in the final round and Wallington switched from defence to the offensive. And the Boston junior, for the first time in the contest, was made to work for his win.

Kevin Pagden and Bryon Tout provided a contest of skilful boxing. But the lad from Norwich had no answer to the Boston junior’s aggression in the closing stages and surrendered his earlier gains and with it the contest went to Pagden.

In a bruising encounter, Boston’s Denis Watson’s joust with Garry Dodds was a close call. The surprise was that the result went to the lad from Spennymoor as it was Watson who took the contest to his opponent.

Boston senior’s Ronnie Goddard and Robin Sweetman played their part in lively encounters. But their opponents Tony Carrell (RAF Waddington) and Nottingham’s Robert Felstead were doughty warriors and were given the verdicts.

Alec Ouaked is one of many promising boxers in the Boston squad and he didn’t disappoint in his contest with Guy Evans. Alex, in only his second contest, had the upper hand for most of the contest. But the lad from Nottingham was a tough opponent and was prepared to swap blow for blow at times thus restricting Ouaked to a majority decision.

News for week ending April 23, 2006

Boston boxer Akeem Lomoth made a tremendous first-time attempt to reach the finals of the all Midland ABA Championships in his weight class when fighting at Leicester over the weekend.

He was up against a much more experienced opponent in the guise of Birmingham’s Graham Flowers, the hard-hitting Boston senior kept to his task of trying to put Flowers away. But the lad from Birmingham used the big ring to good effect with his defensive skills.

The Boston man’s strength and willingness to chase his opponent in the final round began to wane as tiredness became apparent and Flowers — the defender for most of the contest — was able to become the aggressor and move into the finals.

A charity boxing dinner tournament will be held at the Peter Paine Sports Centre on Saturday April 29. Tickets are not available on the night but can be obtained in advance by contacting Boston Amateur Boxing Club. The charity to benefit will be the Boston Butterfly Hospice Trust.

News for week ending March 5, 2006

Boston Amateur Boxing Club entered three contestants into a tournament at Peterborough, but unfortunately only one emerged with a win to his credit.

Antony Elding’s bout against Nigel Radford was a close-run affair all the way through. Both lads fought an open contest where defensive skills and aggressive moments were a feature throughout as both strove for supremacy. Elding couldn’t coax the lad from Peterborough into an open confrontation in the final round who elected, instead, to pick up his points victory on the retreat.

Ben Creek returned to the ring after illness but couldn’t maintain his early dominance for the whole of the contest over Peterborough’s John Morgan. From a winning position, tiredness and a drain on stamina took over and Morgan came through for a majority decision.

Akeen Demoth is a top attraction at any tournament. The hard-hitting Boston senior’s contests do well if they go the distance. He also showed Paul Morgan that he could take a shot when the lad from Essex caught him in the second round for a standing count of nine. But Akeen delivered retribution midway in the third round when combination shots put Morgan down and out of the contest as the referee brought the proceedings to a close.

News for week ending February 26, 2006

Boxing at Burton on Trent at the weekend, Kevan Pagden failed in his bid to capture the northwest counties title. The Boston ABC fighter was contesting his weight class in the newly-formed Golden Gloves Championship. In the quarter-finals he lost to James Kelly on a majority points decision. The man from Liverpool made good use of Pagden’s cautious approach in the opening two rounds. Kelly was always busy and threw the leather that kept him boss of the efforts of the work-shy Pagden. The stroll for Kelly ended in the final round as Pagden produced the fireworks. But they should have been left off much earlier in the contest as Kelly had enough stamina to ride out the storm and get the decision.

News for week ending January 22, 2006

Although the number of bouts were reduced to seven from the original 12 planned due to illness and stringent safety rules, the Spilsby Round Table dinner tournament in aid of charities held at Skegness still provided an eventful night of boxing.

The three final bouts provided amateur boxing at its best. Boston ABC had three boxers appearing on the bill which they helped to organise. Schoolboy Antony Elding had a torrid time holding off Scott Wallington in the first round as the lad from Newark rained in shots from all angles.

Elding survived, showed his mettle and for the rest of the contest swapped blow for blow. But it was Wallington’s out of the blocks first round that edged him the verdict. Jamie Holland also allowed Adrian Kettleboro to take control of early proceedings and had to go for catch-up time in the latter stages. Although he had the lad from Newark defending desperately in the closing seconds, it was too little too late.

Rob Sweetland’s battle with Jay Jones was contest of the evening, different style of boxing made for an intriguing set-to. The lad from Skegness had a long reach which meant that Sweetland had to duck and weave to attack the main targets of his opponent. Although they were successful tactics — there was a price to pay as combination shots found their target when Sweetland’s defence was non-existent as he went on the offensive. Neither boxer allowed the other any respite. But neither succeeded and a “toss of the coin” verdict went to Jones. It was that close and both deserved the plaudits, as they left the ring.

Superb boxing skills mixed with aggression were on view as Paul Johnson (Newark) and Ricky Pearce overwhelmed a game Tony Riches (Skegness).