Paul Coleman

Time Capsule semi-finals day 2

Pollock’s answer to Hugh McIlvanney aka Mick Roberts of the Forgewood club gives his insight into the second round of semi-finals in the ABS senior championships;

1 – 54kg Bantamweight

RED Corner – Joe Ham, Renfrewshire walkover

BLUE Corner – Danny Singh, Bellahouston

2 – 54Kg Bantamweight

RED Corner – Anthony Bilan, Kingdom

This was non-stop action from the outset with Bilan landing the cleaner shots and Thompson marching forward with a high guard and left hooking for his points. In my opinion young Bilan was hard done by with Thompson taking the finals place.

BLUE Corner – John Thompson, Dennistoun Won 12.7

3 – 57Kg Featherweight

RED Corner – Martin O’Neil, Greenock Won in rd 2 by disqualification O’Neil started off very busy and being taller of the two boxers he forced the pace with 3/4 Punch combinations. Cunningham was trying move under the shots but was ducking too low, so got 3 warnings and as the rules state 3 warnings and the bout is over. He should have heeded the first much less repeated warnings. A lesson he’ll have learned from.

BLUE Corner – Scott Cunningham, Lochee

4 – 57Kg Featherweight

RED Corner – Darren Traynor, Granite City

This bout started off slow but ended up fast with both boxers trying to pick good shots. There was a good clash of styles, Traynor being a come forward fighter and Slowey being a fast counter puncher with fast hands and feet. The last round was the best in this bout with both lads knowing the scores Traynor just kept coming! Being down 15.6 going into the last he needed a big round and Slowey needed to keep him at bay which he did with his movement and sharp counters and goes on to his second senior final in a Row

BLUE Corner – Jonathan Slowey, Dennistoun McNair Won 20.14

5 – 64Kg Light Welterweight

RED Corner – Jason Easton, Craigmillar Won 14.11. For me this was the best bout of the night. It was non-stop action from the first bell with the older man Kerr at 27 and Easton being his first year at the seniors. Kerr never gave Easton a second to rest he just kept marching forward and young Easton working better behind the jab and good right hand upper cuts and right crosses! For me just seemed to throw that one extra punch more than Kerr but right to the last bell Kerr made the youngster work for it all the way.

BLUE Corner – Jamie Kerr, Irvine Vineburgh

6 – 64Kg Light Welterweight

RED Corner – James Thompson. Hillpark.

McGinn won this bout just! Going into the last round 7 points up he took his foot off the gas and Thompson was very unlucky not to nick it with his onslaught in the last round. Thompson has only been boxing a season and a half, I think next year under the care of Jamie Coyle, himself once a top flight amateur, this kid will come good!

BLUE Corner – Darren McGinn, Cleland Won 10.8

7 – 75 Kg Middleweight

RED Corner – Sean Finney, Kingdom Won 5.4

This bout never really came alive till the last round. The first 2 were almost cancelling each other out with Banks (being a southpaw) looking for right hooks, and Finney being a orthodox looking for right hands! But by round three, Banks is down 4.1, and has a real go at coming forward but just ran out of time and lost by 1 point

BLUE Corner – Steven Banks, Jerviston

8 – 75Kg Middleweight

RED Corner – Darren Reid, Alloa

This was a very good bout, but in my opinion the score should have been a lot closer! Peacock was a worthy winner with a slow start from him, but he produced the best last round of the night. He never stopped punching and he needed it to beat Reid, who was last years Champ

BLUE Corner – Brian Peacock, Barrhead Won 16.8

9 – 91kg Heavyweight

RED Corner – Andrew Wilson, Hillpark.

Wilson is short for a heavyweight and came in hooking and pushing the taller man Cook back. However, once Cook settled down he was landing the power shots and good corner work in round 3 from the Hillpark trainer Coyle calls a halt to the bout to save his man from further punishment

BLUE Corner – John Cook, Denbeath Won RSC

10 – 91kg heavyweight

RED Corner – Jackie Kubas, Queensferry

This was one not for the faint hearted, Kubas comes with a name as a big puncher and he did have Drummond rocking a few times, but Drummond listened to his corner when told not to stand and trade! Box, move and hit Kubas! Which he did to great effect, knocking out Kubas in rd2! Thankfully Kubas got up to leave the ring under his own steam.

Blue Corner – David Drummond, Lochee won by 2nd round KO

ABS would like to thank all the staff at the Time Capsule for their help and assistance and all the boxers, coaches and supporters who attended. The Next ABS Ltd national event will be the Youth Finals which will also be held at the Time Capsule on 19 March 2010.

The weigh in will be between 4-6pm with the boxing commencing at 7pm.

Just a reminder that the weigh for this event will commence at 4pm today (12 March 2010) and will be kept open until all of the boxers have been weighed in. The boxing is scheduled start at 7pm.

News from 11 March 2010 in Delhi

All the boxers trained (two sessions) and their weights were satisfactory
A team manager meeting was attended by Colin McEwen in the evening information was given on the competition. The opening ceremony is at 14.00 hrs and the prelim bouts start at 15.00 hrs on 12 March 2010

The team are staying at the Five Star Ashok Hotel in Delhi the facilities are good but there is some renovation work going on. The pool has no water in it as it also is being renovated, they are trying to get everything finished before the games there is a big push on all over Delhi to complete the upgrading works not just at the hotel but all over including roads.

The Draw for the Scottish Boxers is as follows having been made at 10.45 (Delhi Time) on 12 March 2010;

56 Kg Michael Roberts Scotland Vs Revocatus Shomari Tanzania 12th March.

60 kG Josh Taylor Scotland v John Colin Mauritious 12th March.

69 Kg Aston Brown Bye Aston will box on the 13th March Vs Moabi Mothiba Botswana.

81 Kg Callum Johnson Bye Callum will box on the 15th March Vs Rodney Prosper Mauritious Semi Final Bronze at least.

91 Kg Stephen Simmons Vs Manpreet Singh India 14th March.

91 Kg + Ross Henderson Vs Peamjeet Samota India 15th March. Semi Final Bronze at least.

News from 10 March 2010 in Delhi

The team trained at the Competition venue early in the day and again the coached deemed this to a very productive session. Training in the evening was held within the hotel and again weights were bang on target.

Despite the upset stomachs yesterday, the food is of a high standard and mainly traditional Indian food with some European items thrown in. The Boxers are coping well with the change of food and there is plenty of fresh fruit available to them too.

Colin McEwen, the team manager will be sending on more photos from the event and these will be posted as soon as they are received.

News from 09 March 2010 in Delhi

The team had a training session organised in the morning at the Competition venue but this was cancelled by event security.  This was no bad thing as most of the boxers were complaining of an upset stomach after breakfast.

A training session was held in the evening and all the boxers took part. This was very beneficial and all the boxers worked extremely hard.

Weights were taken before and after training and they were all satisfactory.

Adrian Lear of the Metropolitan Police, and part of the security team working with Indian authorities on the 2010 Commonwealth Games, was also in touch with Colin McEwan to see if he could attend some of the boxing. He will also take the opportunity to address the boxers on security matters.

Andy Caulfield has also arrived safely and overall the team is in good spirits.

The programme for the second Scottish Senior Championship Semi Finals that will be held at the Time Capsule, Coatbridge is available for download in the documents section.