Boxing: Grant Kershaw victory over Liam Craven

Grant Kershaw, 15, of Hamer ABC, upset local favourite Liam Craven, of Camp Detox Boxing Club, with victory at the White Rose Banquet Suite in Leeds, on Sunday (7 May).

The noise in the room was deafening when the southpaw Craven entered the ring, which dented Kershaw's confidence a little and it showed in the first round which became scrappy and uneventful.

In the second round Kershaw upped his game and he began to find his range with his long arms to unload fast combinations to the head before stepping back out of range from his punch swinging opponent.

Craven continued to try and make the contest scrappy by attempting to move in close but Kershaw stepped out of range and landed an overhand right to the head when his opponent moved in with more swinging punches.

In the third and final round and Kershaw stormed out to take the fight to his opponent.

Kershaw continuously landed to the head of Craven, who was now beginning to show signs of tiredness.

Craven moved in with his hands slowly dropping by his side while looking to land some wild punches and Kershaw stepped back out of range before stepping back in to land a solid four-to-five punch combination that knocked his opponents head back and his head guard off.

The referee should have been given Craven a standing eight count for the amount of punches he had received without reply, but instead he took the stricken fighter to his own corner to get his head guard refitted correctly before being allowed to continue.

Kershaw was in full flow and the boisterous 'home' crowd was by now very silent.

When the referee give both boxers the nod to continue, Kershaw immediately stormed into Craven with another unanswered four-to-five punch combination, leaving the referee no option but to give Craven a standing eight count.

On the final bell, Kershaw's hand was raised in victory.