Boxing: Hamer Boxing Club reports

Ben Braddock and the Mayor of Rochdale, Mike Holly

On Saturday 2 March, 13-year-old Scarlett “The Starlett” Holden travelled to the Community Centre in Macclesfield to represent Hamer Amateur Boxing Club when meeting Kayla Dryden of Workington ABC in the North West Woman Warriors annual boxing show.

When the bell rang for the first round, both boxers came out like a storm as they landed blow after blow upon each other. Then the referee suddenly stepped in to halt the bout, due to Dryden’s hair coming out of her head guard. Once her coach had got her hair back into her head guard the referee allowed the bout to continue and Scarlett rushed out of the neutral corner to land a swinging right hook to the side of Kayla’s head. Scarlett continued to attack her opponent and after every exchange of punches, it was the young Hamer boxer who landed an impressive solid right hand to the chin.

Before the start of round two, the Hamer coach Steven Connellan told Scarlett to continue pressing forward, whilst always throwing her right-hand punch, which seemed to connect every time she unloaded it.

When the bell rang for the second round, the referee directed young Scarlett into the neutral corner once again, whilst waiting for the coaches within the red corner to put Kayla’s hair back into her head guard for the second time. When they had finally done it, the referee waved both boxers on to continue and both boxers came towards each other whilst using their probing jabs to find their range.

Kayla suddenly attacked the Hamer boxer with numerous punches, before stepping back, which prompted Scarlett to step upon her front foot and take the action back to her opponent. She forced the Workington boxer onto the ropes and began to land more numerous punches to both the body and head. As the round progressed, Kayla began to step upon her back foot to keep her distance from her on-coming Hamer foe, who continued to land her right hand to the chin every time she stepped into the action. It was a close, well fought bout, which prompted the coach to tell Scarlett to continue to step into the action whilst unloading her right hand to the chin.

The bell rang for the third and last round, Scarlett stormed out to land numerous punches as she forced her opponent into the red corner, were she continued to stay focused whilst landing even more punches to both the body and head. The referee shouted stop numerous times and Scarlett stepped back away from the action, before the official warned Kayla for holding onto her Hamer rival. As soon as the bout was allowed to continue, Scarlett instantly stepped into the action once again to land even more hurtful right-hand punches to the chin, which forced Kayla upon her back foot once again as she tried to move around the ring to keep her distance. This continued throughout the round. But when Kayla did manage to step in with her punches, she was met with another right-hand punch to the chin from her Hamer opponent every time she came into range, which prompted all three judges to award the bout to the Hamer boxer by a unanimous decision.

On Friday 23 February, 18-year-old Kieren “Special K” McMenamy travelled to the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool to put in a terrific performance to gain a unanimous decision over local boxer Jack Cullen of Derry Mathews Boxing Academy. 15-year-old Isaac Coyle also travelled to Liverpool that night and also put in a tremendous performance against another Derry Mathews boxer, Liam Johnson in his very first bout, only to see Johnson have his arm raised in victory by a very controversial majority decision. Both of the Liverpool coaches and Johnson’s father later told the Hamer coach, Steven Connellan that they also thought the Hamer boxer had done enough to win the bout and both clubs agreed to have a rematch in Liverpool in April.

After winning the National Youth Cadet Title in February, 16-year-old “Big” Ben Braddock was also awarded a certificate of appreciation for his exceptional achievement within the sport of boxing from the Mayor of Rochdale, Michael Holly. He also received his North West Region Championship Belt for representing the region in the National final.