ABS Junior Squad in Cardiff with former WBO, WBU & European Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Maccaronelli
ABS travelled to Cardiff at the weekend (7th July 10th July) for the GB Junior Championships at Cardiff University. A 25 strong pool of boxers travelled to compete against their counterparts from England and Wales, all aiming for Gold and the title of GB Champion.
The competition was split into 1996 born and 1995 born boxers with Scotland having 8 boxers in the 1996 semi-finals and 9 boxers in the 1995 semi finals (the remaining boxers gained a bye to the Finals).
The semi finals produced a number of largely close contests and Scotland started strongly in the 1996 category, winning the opening 4 bouts. First up, Jack Brunton overcame young Welshman Rhys Warren 19-8, followed by further victories for Stephen Boyle (21-6 v Tom Beecham ,Wales), Darren Shannon (23-7 v Brian McDonagh, Wales) and Aidan McGlynn (20-17 v Jordan Flynn, England).
Unfortunately, Scotland were unable to add any further 1996 finalists with Andrew Tham, Allan Hughes, Paul Lowther and John Grier all losing out. All of these bouts were particularly tight however, with Andrew Tham only losing out as the result of a count back.
The 1995 category produced further finalists with European Junior Bronze Medallist Reece McFadden, Sam Ball and William Mowat; all fresh from their exploits in Hungary, gaining victories over Welsh boxers Jack Parry (11-7), Luca Dragone (14-13) and Ricky Rowlands (16-11) respectively. Robert Harkins added another 1995 finalist, defeating another Welshman Adam Edmondson 10-5. William McGill, Sam Stewart, Craig Cox, Danny Tarling and Jamie McDowell were unable to join them in the Finals.
Saturdays Finals featured 16 Scottish competitors and hopes were high of winning several Gold medals.
Scotland started well in the 1996 category with David Burrell securing Scotlands first Gold with a 9-5 victory over Englands Scott Rankin. Calvin McCord, Ryan Mullen and Jack Brunton couldnt build on the early momentum as they conceded the title to English boxers Harry Connelly, Patrick Ellis and Mohammed Ali.
A second Gold did arrive as Stephen Boyle took the medal against Englands Eli Saunders in a close 16-14 contest. After Darren Shannon lost out to another English boxer George Drinkwater, Aidan McGlynn added a third Gold for ABS with a win over Wales Shay Evans 21-12.
The final three Scottish competitors in the 1996 category, Jordan Beveridge, Daniel Purves and Paul Burns all faced English opposition and were unable to add to Scotlands Gold medal tally before the 1995 boxers took to the ring.
First up in the 1995s was Alex Patterson, who claimed a fourth title for Scotland with victory over Wales Robbie Vernon 19-13. Reece McFadden then added GB Gold to his European Bronze medal, defeating Englands Jack Rann 10-7 in what has been a fantastic couple of weeks for the young Forgewood ABC boxer.
With 5 gold medals already secured, the young Scots were looking to add to the total with another 4 bouts remaining. The four Scottish boxers faced strong English opponents in their respective finals and all were involved in eagerly competitive bouts. Firstly Sam Ball lost out to Ted Cheeseman 10-8, William Mowat also lost out in an equally close 15-11 bout to Charlie Stevens before another GB title and 6th Gold medal was added by Robert Harkins who was victorious over Thomas McDonagh 10-8.
In the final contest, David Sexton was defeated 10-6 by Thomas Whitaker in another tight bout.
So six Gold medals and 10 Silver medals from the 2011 GB Championships; a pleasing return for Team Scotland. What will be equally pleasing is how competitive the ABS squad were overall, with the large majority of bouts throughout the weekend proving exceptionally close against strong opposition from England and Wales.
