Scott Forrest – Prelim Bout
In the second session on Thursday 23rd August Scott Forrest was the Team Scotland rep competing in the 81kg category, against Ireland’s George Boylan. The first round saw both boxers set a fast pace eager to catch the judges eye, but nothing could separate at the end of the first with a computer score of 6 – 6.
Ireland’s Boylan came out in the second adopting a tighter defence after realising the work-rate of the Scottish boxer. Scott tirelessly attempted to create openings through the defense of his opponent, but the tactic of the Irishman paid off with Boylan finishing the round 3 points ahead, with a computer score of 11 – 8.
The last round of this contest proved to be an absolute cracker – Team Scotland’s Scott Forrest took it to his opponent from the opening bell and never took his foot off the pedal. Scott boxed to his absolute best, making his opponent miss then countering with fast accurate punches. Excellent movement moving into range coupled with national pride on his sleeve, the Scottish boxer gave 110% in every department attempting to crawl back the lead. As the final bell sounded, the whole of Team Scotland and indeed the local support applauded the fight back from young Scott, as it was anticipated he had done more than enough to seal the victory. Astonishingly however the result was not to go the way of the Scottish boxer, even though 3 of the 5 judges had Scott winning the round quite convincingly. An awe inspiring come-back however, from which Scott can take a big confidence boost from – Final Result 18 – 15.
Craig MacIntyre – Preliminary Bout
Team Scotland’s representative in the 56kg category was Craig MacIntyre, who was the second Scottish boxer to draw an Irish opponent in the name of Chris Nevin.
Craig made a positive start to proceedings, making good use of his long lead jab to set up the rear hand. However using clever footwork Nevin managed to stay just out of range long enough to neutralise Craig’s reach advantage. By the end of the round Craig was finding some success with the jab – rear hand combination but Nevin was finding the target with clinical bent arm punches. The score at the end of the first round was 4 – 2 in favour of the Irishman.
Scotland’s 56kg boxer had to step it up a gear in order to gain momentum in the second round; Craig started positive trying to create scoring opportunities against his opponent. Unfortunately Nevin utilised sound ring-craft making good use of the ring, scoring effective blows from various angles – score at the end of the second round 7 – 3 to Nevin.
Craig now had no choice but to put together attack after attack to be in with any chance of closing the gap. The first 30 seconds of the bout saw Craig string some effective combinations together, backing his opponent into the corner. Unfortunately for the Scottish boxer, the momentum Nevin had gained through the first and second round provided him with an air of confidence which saw him throw accurate punches to head and body. The final moments of the round witnessed several clinches up close as the Irishman knew he had done enough to secure the bout. Unfortunately, Craig was beaten by the better boxer on the day but will certainly learn from the experience boxing a robust well-schooled Irishman – Final score 11 – 4 to Ireland.
William Mowat – Preliminary Bout
Scotland’s last boxer to compete on day 1 of the Brandenburg cup was Willie Mowat boxing in the 64kg category. In what proved to be an outstanding contest, Willie was up against the Russian Sergej Sobylinsky whom he had previously lost to when the Youth team had travelled to Serbia earlier in the year.
Right from the first bell Willie gave his all, trying to prevent the experienced Russian from getting into his stride. The first round proved to be a real chess match, with both Southpaw boxers trying to draw each other into range and force a mistake out of their opposite number – Score at the end of the first round 3 – 4 to Russia.
Having scored more points in the first round than during the whole of their previous contest, Willie started the second round with real confidence and met Sobylinsky in the centre of the ring with big blows being delivered by both boxers. The Russian’s vast experience started to tell as the round went on with the more crucial eye scoring punches, but by no means was the Scottish boxer overawed or outclassed going into the final round. Score at the end of the second round 8 – 14 to Russia.
With the Russian now having a solid lead going into the last round, the bout for the Scotsman was all about continuing the solid performance from the first two rounds. Team Scotland’s 64kg boxer had certainly gained the respect of his Russian counterpart, irrespective of the scoring going into the last. Willie continued persevering, pushing forward throwing punches in clusters ensuring he would leave nothing in the ring. Whilst the Russian used his boxing knowledge to counter effectively whilst protecting his lead, nothing can be taken away from the young Scotsman who proved he can share a ring with a world class opponent – well done Willie. Final score 12 – 20 to Russia.
