Muavia Nasim narrowly missed out on becoming crowned the England Junior Champion

Muavia Nasim narrowly misses out on becoming crowned the England Junior Champion

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Muavia Nasim narrowly missed out on becoming the England Junior Champion in the open class division by the narrowest of margins at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre on Sunday.

Nasim, of Queensway Amateur Boxing Club, went in to the tournament the underdog as it was only his first full season competing against seasoned fighters who had competed in over 30 fights.

On the Saturday morning four fighters weighed in on the 50kg limit but soon after one pulled out. This meant one fighter getting a walkover to the final and that fell to championship favourite, and last year's winner, Tommy Robberts from the famous Repton gym in London.

Nasim was drawn against Ben Grassman, who coming into the contest boasted 33 fights under his belt.

Nasim dominated all three rounds to set up a clash with a fresh Roberts.

Although confident the Queensway coaches knew this was going to be a hard fight. Roberts going into the bout was already a two-time national champion with a 35 fights, 31 wins record to his name.

Round one was a case of both boxers getting a feel for each other with Roberts keeping tight and throwing single shots with precision.

Nasim did what he does best and countered him accurately.

The round was fairly even and too close to call.

In round two Roberts started at a faster pace, however with Nasim's slick movement he was able to counter and frustrate the champion leaving no doubt who had taken the second round.

Nasim started the third round better sticking exactly to what coach David Hodkinson had told him. However, one good clean shot from Roberts changed that, Nasim was unhurt by the shot but drifted away from the plan thinking that the decision was already in the bag and played right into the hands of Roberts who finished the last half of the round with clean shots that made the difference.

Roberts hand was raised to make him champion for the third time.

After the fight coach David Hodkinson was given a talent form to fill in by the Head of England Boxing who commented that Nasim's performance was outstanding for his first season.