Hamer boxers win two gold medals in Sweden

Austin Heneghan and Aeron Maddocks

Hamer boxers, Austin “Powers” Heneghan and Aeron “The Viking” Maddocks travelled to Sweden last weekend to represent the North West of England in the Gripen Box-Cup thanks to funds donated by the late Stephen “Moggy” Murray’s family.

14-year-old Austin “Powers” Heneghan stepped into the ring on Saturday 1 October to take on Swedish boxer Angelo Adamos of A.I.K. Boxing Federation in the final of the Gripen Box-Cup. When the bell rang, both boxers came out fencing with their jabs whilst looking for openings. Then, just as suddenly both opponents began to unload lightning-fast combinations upon each other. Adamos instantly began to feel the effects of the Hamer boxer’s rapid punches which forced him to back off and move around the ring to gain some form of distance from his constantly on-coming opponent who used his incredible reflexes to stay out of range from his Swedish opponents punches, before stepping back into the firing line to unload accurate punches to his of his own to the head. Just before the bell rang to end the round, Austin landed numerous, lightning-fast combinations upon his opponent to show the judges who was in control.

In round two both boxers came out again with their probing jabs before Austin landed two solid right hands to the chin. From there on the Hamer boxer constantly timed his right hand to perfection to land multiple telling blows to the head of his opponent. When Adamos did manage to land punches of his own, the crowd suddenly burst into life and the noise was deafening around the room, but this did not deter the Rochdale youngster who repeatedly landed solid right hands to the chin which gradually changed the strategy of his opponent who sluggishly began to fade out of the contest.

At the start of the third and last round the Swedish crowd began to continuously chant out their boxer’s name, which prompted the Hamer boxer to pick up the pace of the action even more as he repeatedly landed telling blows to the head to take the round and the Box-Cup gold for both Hamer Boxing Club and the North West Region.

Aeron “The Viking” Maddocks, 19, had to compete in a semi-final that same day when he was matched against the Swedish boxer Tim Korola of Balstad Boxing Club. When the bell rang for the first round “The Viking” took to the centre of the ring to force his much taller opponent onto the ropes before unloading fast and furious punches to both the body and head.

Korola began to use his much longer reach to probe with his jab before landing the occasional solid right hand, but this did not deter the Hamer boxer who just stepped back into the action to land even more telling blows of his own. From there on Korola realised that his jab was having little effect upon the contest, so to the delight of his fans he planted his feet firmly upon the canvas of the ring as he began to trade heavy blows with his Hamer opponent. The change in style suited “The Viking” who returned jolting blows of his own in his determination to reach the final. This continued throughout the round as both boxers landed telling blows upon each other which instantly raised the noise decibels within the room and as the round drew to a close, “The Viking” began to land fast, accurate punches upon his opponent to take the round.

On the sound of the second bell Aeron instantly stormed out of the red corner to unload a double jab to the face before stepping forward to land numerous hooks to both the body and head of his Swedish opponent. Korola tried hard to stay in the action, but Aeron’s fitness slowly began to take its toll as he constantly pushed forward with effective punches to both the body and head.

The Hamer boxer came out for the third and last round instantly forcing his opponent onto the back foot as he landed two crushing over-hand rights to the head. Then Korola landed two solid right hands of his own to the chin of his aggressive opponent, which instantly forced Aeron to step back into the action to unload several crunching blows of his own to both the head and body as Korola lay upon the ropes. It was a gruesome display of boxing which instantly brought the noise decibels back up to raise the roof off the building as both boxers took to the centre of the ring to trade even more explosive and punishing blows upon each other. But in the end, it was the Hamer boxer’s fast and accurate punches that won him the contest to reach the final.

On day two, Aeron “The Viking” Maddocks stepped into the ring in the final of the Gripen Box-Cup to meet another Swedish boxer called Joel Johnsenn of Ikkmer Boxing Club and when the bell rang to start the first round “The Viking” instantly forced Johnsenn onto the ropes to land an aggressive right hook to the head of his opponent. Aeron stepped in again with one, two combinations, before landing numerous hooks to both the body and head. From there on “The Viking” forced his opponent around the ring as he connected with punishing right hands to the chin.

The Hamer boxer continued with his aggressive approach as he waited for Johnsenn to throw his punches before moving out of range so that his Swedish opponent missed his target. Then he suddenly stormed back into the action with explosive punches of his own, which constantly landed upon Johnsenn’s head and body. Aeron wanted that gold medal badly, and it showed when he connected with an incredible right hand to the chin which wobbled his opponent’s legs. Johnsenn instantly grabbed hold of his fearless combatant and when the referee told them to separate, Johnsenn landed a sneaky punch to the head, which brought an instant warning from the referee. The foul blow didn’t deter Aeron in the slightest as he stepped back into the action to unload numerous and fierce right-handed punches to the chin which forced the referee to step in and administer Johnsenn a standing eight-count just before the bell rang to end the round.

On the sound of the second bell, Johnsenn came out to land a couple of explosive left and right hooks to the head of his Hamer opponent. But it wasn’t long before “The Viking” began to force the action once again when he landed blow after blow upon his opponent, whom for one split-second took to wrestling as he grappled Aeron onto the canvas before receiving another warning off the referee. Just before the bell rang to end the round Aeron landed two incredible right-hands to the chin, which was instantly followed by the fire alarm going off which forced the evacuation of the building.

Eventually, the officials awarded Aeron the victory which meant Hamer and its boxers had two gold medals. Overall the North West team won eight gold medals and two silver medals, which saw them awarded the cup for the most outstanding team of the tournament.