Boxing: Hamer Boxing Club reports

On Saturday 9 March, two Hamer boxers made a three-hour journey to Egremont in Cumbria to compete in a show arranged by Egremont Amateur Boxing Club.

The first Hamer boxer to step into the ring that day was 13-year-old Scarlett “The Starlett” Holden, who met Kayla Dryden of Workington ABC in a return bout, and as soon as the bell rang to start the first round, both girls set about each other with hooks to both the body and head. As the round progressed the noise from the home crowd motivated Kayla to show drive and initiative to press forward much more as she connected with swinging hooks to the head of her Hamer opponent, who replied with straight punches back to the head.

Before the start of round two, the Hamer coach Steven Connellan told Scarlett to step back to put her weight upon her back foot when Dryden attacked, then throw a straight right hand to the chin of her opponent.

When the bell rang to start round two, Scarlett instantly stormed out to unload three to four hooks to the head of her Workington opponent, before stepping back to wait for Dryden to attack once again, and when she did, Scarlett let go with a cracking straight right hand to the chin of her opponent. Spurred on by the noise of the crowd. Dryden continued to attack with swinging punches, but the tidier work seemed to be coming from the Hamer boxer, who connected with the cleaner punches every time Dryden stepped into range with her twirling blows.

The Hamer coach thought that both boxers had gained one round each, so he told Scarlett to up the pace of the action and take the fight back to her opponent.

As soon as the bell sounded to start the third and last round, Scarlett came out with two jabs to the body, before unloading a solid right hand to the chin, which forced Dryden onto the ropes, and the Hamer boxer instantly stepped back into the action whilst throwing hooks to both the body and head as Dryden tried to cover up with her guard as she laid upon the ropes.

As the contest continued, it was Scarlett who seemed to take the initiative as she began to step upon her front foot to force the action upon her opponent with hooks to both the body and head. It was a terrific and closely fought, non-stop contest which impressed the crowd and the Hamer corner thought that Scarlett had done enough to take the victory due to her much cleaner punches. But sadly, the decision went in favour of the local boxer.

 

 

Upon seeing the result of the conflict between Scarlett and her opponent, the Hamer corner thought that 16-year-old “Champagne” Charlie Braddock would realise that he would have to instantly step up to try to impress the judges with an outstanding performance of instant activity. However, when he stepped into the ring to meet another Workington Boxer called Alfie Govans, the Hamer boxer came out probing with his double jab to try and find his range. Then Govans suddenly unloaded a solid right hand to the chin of Braddock, which inspired the crowd to fill the room with instant volume. Charlie continued to move forward with punches to both the body and head, whilst Govans replied with instant punches of his own, which continued to impress the crowd and when the shout came out for the last ten seconds, both boxers took to the centre of the ring to unload hooks to both body and head of each other.

It was a closely fought first round that could have gone to either boxer, but the Hamer corner thought that Charlie was holding back way too much. So, he was told to up his action and to try and take away the momentum from his opponent.

When the bell rang to signal the start of round two, Charlie instantly stepped upon his front foot to take the action straight to his opponent as he unloaded his jab, followed by his solid right hand, which continued to land upon the chin of Govans. The Hamer boxer continued to press forward as he began to land the much heavier punches, whilst also showing the judges his defensive actions when the Workington boxer tried to reply with punches of his own. It was to be a much better round for Charlie, but the Hamer corner told him that he would have to pick up the action even more if he wanted his arm raised in victory.

Charlie showed his intentions when he came out for the third and last round to land two solid right-hand punches to the chin of his opponent. Then Govans suddenly started to up the action, which instantly ignited the volume of the noise from the crowd, but the noise just as suddenly died down when the Hamer boxer landed another terrific right-hand punch to the chin of his opponent, before he forced Govans into the neutral corner to unload both hooks and upper-cuts to the body and head. As the round progressed, Govans began to tire a little, whilst the Hamer boxer continued to land his firm and notable right-hand punch to the chin, in what was another highly entertaining and closely fought contest, which went the way of the Hamer boxer this time.