Boxing: Hamer Boxing Club report

Alex MacMillan and Aeron Maddocks

On Saturday 28 October, Aeron “The Viking” Maddocks made his way to Blackburn Youth Zone in Blackburn to compete in a very competitive and gruelling boxing bout against Alex MacMillan of JR Gym in the North West NABGC Finals.

On the sound of the first bell, the crowd let it be known that they were supporting MacMillan with chants of “come on Alex”, whilst the Hamer boxer placed his weight upon his back foot, ready to off load his power-punch when the JR Gym boxer stepped into range. Both boxers continued to use their jabs before the room erupted when Macmillan landed a punch and the noise of his supporters vibrated around the room even when the JR boxer missed. The action picked-up towards the end of the round with Aeron forcing MacMillan onto the ropes with punches to both the body and head, whilst MacMillan landed the less frequent, more telling blows, which instantly had the crowd excited.

When the bell rang to end the round, Hamer head coach Steven Connellan told Aeron that he believed that MacMillan had taken that round, so he told his boxer to up the pace of the action, but to always be aware of MacMillan’s responding punches

The bell rang for the second round and MacMillan instantly landed a jab to the face, which immediately had the crowd shouting and cheering. MacMillan also landed another two punches as Aeron moved into the action. The room went wild with excitement once again. As the clock ticked away, Aeron slowly began to force his tiring opponent onto his back foot with numerous punches to both the body and head, followed by uppercuts to the chin when MacMillan put his head down. After believing that the Hamer boxer had taken the second round with his constant work rate and numerous punches landed, Aeron was told to continue forcing his opponent onto the back foot in the third and last round.

When the bell rang, Aeron instantly forced the action straight onto his opponent with more hurtful hooks to the body and head, whilst MacMillan tried to keep his own punches flowing with less frequent cleaner blows. It soon became a gruelling affair once again as Aeron stepped up his pace even further, and MacMillan began to slow down, hold, and put his head down, whilst occasionally landing a cracking punch to the head. This instantly had the noise from crowd vibrating around the room once again. The bout was an action packed, exhausting and demanding contest for both contestants. It began to show when MacMillan displayed signs of tiredness as he continued to hold onto his Hamer opponent with his back to the ropes, whilst Aeron unloaded even more hooks to the body and head, before the referee stepped in to split them both apart once again.

When the bell rang to end the round, the judges must have been influenced by the crowd, because the referee raised MacMillan’s arm in victory to take the NW NABGC title. Although it was to be a disappointing afternoon for Aeron “The Viking” Maddocks. Three more Hamer boxers, Austin Heneghan, Keiren McMenamy and Charlie Braddock all moved into the next round as NW NABGC champions, due to their opponents pulling out with genuine reasons.