Just short of 600 people were in attendance at Skateworld to see 17 top fight bouts of Olympic Style boxing. Junior captain Callum ‘C-Dawg’ Brown started us off against the more experienced Luke Kincart from Gym01. With some excellent exchanges and high skill levels both boxers were sensational in their efforts. Callum losing the decision but with great pluses to take away from his first bout. The club are proud and he will come back stronger for the experience.
Mubanga ‘Banga’ Chisanga lost a split to Brighton and Hove’s Nathan Okello. Banga started off well with fast hands and impactful shots but the visiting boxers was more dominant and frequent with his attacks. Speaking with Banga afterwards, he has had his eyes opened to how he must change his tactics for future. Big things for the Banga man!
Crowd Please, Callum ‘Knighty’ Knight extended his unbeaten run to 5 and 0 with an excellent performance versus Rusthall’s Tommy Ryan. The Tunbridge Wells boxer coming out throwing lightning quick shots but was countered and progressively pushed back by our young star. A unanimous decision taken for Cal, and the bout of the night awarded again for the quality and excitement of the bout.
First timer welterweight Nick Tompkins started well against Brighton City’s Glynn Davies using good hand speed behind his jab. As the bout progressed, Davies was able to find the target more, pushing Nick back to take a unanimous decision. A hard test for Nick, who will come back stronger for it.
Club captain and open class middleweight Lee ‘Leeeeeroy’ Jenkins was up against the strong Lloyd Smith from Berinsfield. This bout was fought at close quarters with strong shots landing. Lee dropped his man twice in the second with devastating body shots. The bout looked over but the Berinsfield man fought on to his credit, showing massive heart and courage. The Eastbourne captain took the unanimous decision. Well done to both boxers for their displays.
The experienced Light welterweight Adrianne Phebey was pitched against London Community’s Zaneta Sierpinska. A highly technical bout with both boxers showing excellent movement and punch selection – A real bout for the purist. being a tight bout, we thought Adrianne had done enough, unfortunately dropping the split to the visitor. Credit to both boxers for both performances.
Mark Preston started well using excellent head movement and countering to be caught with a well placed backhand sending him down. Mark beat the count was deemed unfit to continue by the referee. A big learning curve regarding defence with the guard to be action planned but also some positives to take away with the trunk attacks.
Light-welterweight Seb Coleman made his debut in front of his home crowed boxing long and effectively behind his long jab. Controlling the range well, Seb was able to score with the jab repeatedly. As the bout progressed Ryan Burleigh from Sevenoaks got closer and pushed Seb back throwing well to the body but Seb was the overall victor, boxing with the composure beyond that of his experience.
EBC would like to thank all the supporters, boxers, coaches, officials for making this once again even bigger and better than previous shows. They just keep on getting better! Thanks To our club sponsor Matthew Budd from Matthew Budd Carpentry and Building Services with his support and usual dab hand with a torque wrench! Thanks to Colin Dowding and his team at Skateworld for their professionalism as great hosts. Cheers to my old mate Rob Hocking for the lend of the chairs from the ever supportive Causeway school. Thanks to all the members of EBC who helped to set up and put away, some of us were there until 3am! And finally to those EBC board members, Paul Senior, Emma Loch, Zoe Joyce, Donna and John Joyce. You guys do so much behind the scenes that get unnoticed by most. Couldn’t function without you.
Bantamweight Chloe Taylor lands the back hand in her close bout vs Forbers of Oakmead BC.