Boxing: Hamer Boxing Club reports

Date published: 03 March 2023

It was to be six days of ups and downs, and sheer frustration when Hamer Amateur Boxing Club hit the road on four separate occasions in February.

The first journey was made by 12-year-old Scarlett “The Starlet” Holden, who travelled to the Midland Hotel in Bradford to compete in her first ever competitive bout against the much taller local opponent Teanna Nicholson of Camp Detox ABC. The size difference between both girls was apparent from the very first bell as Scarlett struggled to get in close due to her opponents height and reach advantage, which led Nicholson to dominate the opening exchanges as Scarlett pursued her around the ring.

When the bell rang to end the round Scarlett’s coach Matt Legeard encouraged her to be even more aggressive in her actions and Scarlett responded by instantly rocking the head back of Nicholson with a clever overhand right. As the bout continued the Hamer youngster began to enjoy more success as she landed her double jabs followed by her right hands to the chin and Nicholson was forced to work extremely hard to keep her Hamer opponent at bay.

The third round was much the same as Scarlett continued to force the action, which led her to dominate the round slightly, when she managed to get inside her opponent’s excellent jab on occasion, where she landed her powerful hooks to the body. The crowd were applauding the contest on the sound of the last bell as both girls embraced in a true showing of mutual respect, but in the end it was the local girl Teanna Nicholson who gained the decision.

Also, boxing that same night was 20-year-old Aeron “The Viking” Maddocks, who had made his way to The Grindon Social Club in Sunderland to take on 21-year-old Leon Musson of Tyneside Boxing Club, for the Northern Area Title Belt. This saw both boxers stand toe to toe in the centre of the ring landing heavy blows upon each other throughout the entire three rounds in which Musson gained the decision to retain his title belt.

15-year-old “Champagne” Charlie Braddock was the next Hamer boxer to step into the ring when he met Lincoln Green from Roy Richardson Gym in the North West Junior Quarter Finals at Club 147, Manchester Road, Walkden on Sunday 19 February.

In the first round Green used his much longer range to keep his Hamer opponent at bay as Charlie constantly attacked. However, as the round progressed, Green’s arms were slowly dropping, which gave the Hamer boxer the opportunity to land some telling blows just before the bell rang to end the round. The Hamer coach Steven Connellan told Charlie that Green edged the first round, but not to be too disheartened because he believed that Green was tiring already. So, he told Charlie to continue to press forward with his hands tight to his chin and go to the body first before attacking the chin.

The bell rang for the second round and Charlie followed his coach’s instructions to the tee, when he instantly jabbed to the body before landing an overhand right to the chin. Green was competitive for the first thirty seconds or so when he landed his left hook to the side of Charlie’s head, but as the round progressed, he slowly began to tire. This gave Charlie the opportunity to constantly land three to four punches more than Green, who slowly began to back off as the round began to take its toll on him.

At the start of the third and last round Charlie landed another thunderous right hand to the chin as he continued to press forward. Green struggled to keep up with the action, as Charlie continued to land solid punches to the body, before finishing off his combinations with even more savage and brutal right hands to the head, and at one point it looked as though Green might receive a standing eight count, due to the amount of punches he was clearly taking upon his chin, but instead the referee warned him for the fourth time when he grabbed hold of his Hamer opponent to see-out the round.

The whole room was in total disarray when quite unbelievably, Green was awarded the contest by a split-decision. It seemed that the only two people within the room who thought Charlie had lost were the two judges who voted in Green’s favour. Even the referee and the other judge were flabbergasted with the result, as they told the Hamer coach that they thought Charlie had won convincingly. When the Hamer team went back into the changing room, most of the other coaches were of the same opinion that Charlie had done enough to take the verdict. Hamer ABC put in a complaint, but the protest led to nothing happening regarding the result.

There was no time to dwell on the unfair result, because Hamer Boxing Club were on the road yet again when 12-year-old Connor “The Removal Man” Middleton travelled to East Stanley Workingman’s Club in County Durham on Wednesday 22 February to meet Sean Houghton of Dunston ABC. This was to be a highly entertaining bout of non-stop action that saw both boxers land telling blows upon each other, but as the fight progressed, Houghton’s work rate and much stronger power slowly began to take its toll on the Hamer boxer and he was awarded the verdict by a unanimous decision.

12-year-old Scarlett “The Starlet” Holden also stepped into the ring that night when she was matched against local girl Kiera Mallett of North Road Gym.

The bell rang for the first round and Scarlett stormed out to meet her much taller opponent with a whirlwind of non-stop punches and Mallett answered with her own cyclone of punches, to the entertainment of the boisterous crowd in attendance. This continued throughout the round, in which Scarlett slowly began to take control. Before the start of round two, the Hamer coach Steven Connellan told Scarlett to keep pressing forward with a tight guard and to go to the body first before finishing off with shots to the head.

When the bell rang for the second round, Scarlett rushed out once again to take the fight to her opponent as she landed a continuous stream of left and right hooks to the jaw, whilst Mallett answered her Hamer rival with her much longer straight armed punches to the face, which slowly began to make her presence felt upon the Rochdale boxer, which sent the noise decibels from the crowd through the roof. The Hamer coach told Scarlett it was one round each and he asked her to go out for the last round with non-stop action and put her opponent upon the back foot. The bell rang for the third and last round and Scarlett did exactly what was asked of her as she landed right hand after right hand upon the face and head of Mallett to take the round and the contest via an extremely exciting split-decision.