Boxing: Hamer start season in fine form with winning bouts

Hamer Boxing Club has started the season in fine form with a trophy win, representation in Sweden and a north west title win.

The first win came when Asim ‘The Dancer’ Mahmood stepped into the ring for the very first time to meet Jaylan Carter of Chorley ABC at the Upper Mill Civic Hall in Oldham on 15 September.

When both boxers met in the centre of the ring, Hamer coach Steven Connellan noticed ‘significant apprehension and anxiety’ etched upon the face of the Chorley boxer, so he told Asim to attack his opponent with non-stop fast and furious punches as soon as the bout started.

When the bell rang for the first round, the crowd were immediately upon their feet when Asim stormed out of the red corner to instantly land a solid right hand to the face, followed by a forceful left hook to the jaw.

On receiving the punches, Carter instantly started to fight back and both boxers began to unload a barrage of punches upon each other, whilst also missing each other with the same significant amount thrown.

This was until Asim landed another cracking right hand to the chin, which sent Carter back upon the ropes, but he never stepped in to take advantage, and Carter began to use his much longer reach advantage to keep the Hamer boxer at distance.

Asim began to bob and weave whilst trying to get in close to his opponent, and when he did, he managed to land another crushing blow to the chin, which instantly signalled the referee to step in and administer Carter a standing eight count.

As soon as the count finished, the referee allowed both boxers to continue and Asim allowed his excitement to momentarily take over. He came out from the neutral corner with swinging punches and received a warning from the referee for slapping his opponent on the side of his face.

Straight after the warning, Asim stepped back into action to land another clubbing right-hand to the chin, followed by an equally powerful left hook to the side of the jaw. This prompted the referee to step in once again and administer another standing eight count, before waving his arms in the air and calling an end to the bout in favour of the Hamer boxer, to gain his very first victory by stoppage.

 

 

A couple of weeks later on 28 September, 16-year-old ‘Champagne’ Charlie Braddock represented the North West Region of England in Sweden. He had been set to compete in the Swedish Box-Cup Championships, only to find out that his opponent had pulled out on the final day of boxing.

Instead, Charlie was offered an opportunity to compete against a much taller and heavier opponent in a very competitive non-scoring bout, which impressed the crowd.

The action didn’t stop there as a title win was awarded to Kieren ‘Special K’ McMenamy on 30 September.

Kieren  travelled to Blackburn Youth Zone to meet Dylan Gibbons of Shinny’s Amateur Boxing Club in the North West Championship Development Finals.

The bell rang for the first round and Kieren stepped out of the red corner to meet Gibbons, who instantly wanted to impress the judges and the crowd as he stormed into his Hamer opponent whilst trying to land swinging hooks to both the body and head.

Kieren stayed relaxed and calm, and he used the ring to keep his distance, whilst using his longer reach to land upon the chin of Gibbons as he approached him.

This continued throughout the round with both boxers gaining success, but as the round came to its conclusion, Kieren began to land swift one-two combinations.

Just before the bell sounded to end the round, the Hamer boxer landed a solid right-hand to the chin of Gibbons.

 

 

Dylan Gibbons instantly stormed out again in round two, to take the fight to his Hamer opponent.

But Kieren stayed untroubled and cool-headed as he waited for Gibbons to rush into him, and when he did, the Hamer boxer unloaded even more solid right-hands to the chin of his on-coming opponent.

As the round progressed, Gibbons began to approach Kieren with his head down, so that he could land his hooks to the body of his Hamer opponent, but Kieren was ready, and he began to land well-constructed, stiff uppercuts to the chin of Gibbons as he approached him.

The punches slowly began to take effect upon his opponent.

Kieren began to take the fight to him and force Gibbons onto the ropes, where the Hamer boxer began to land numerous right-handed punches upon his game opponent, who was slowly beginning to tire. Kieren knew he had to stay focused, because the Shinny’s boxer occasionally let go with wild swinging solid punches, which would have taken effect, had they connected.

In the third and last round, Kieren came out upon his toes once again to use the ring to his advantage, whilst he used his swift jab; Gibbons constantly stepped towards him whilst periodically landing some of his big, left-handed punches, as his cornermen screamed for him to constantly storm forward.

It was an impressive display from Gibbons, which forced Kieren upon his toes even more, in order to keep out of range, whilst timing his right-hand punch to perfection as Gibbons approached him.

The punches continued to connect more often when Gibbons began to tire, before the bout was momentarily stopped on three occasions so that his corner could fix Gibbons’ loose head-guard. 

This stopped the momentum of the bout on each occasion, but when the bell rang to end the contest, Kieren’s hand was raised in victory by a unanimous decision to win the North West Development Title and progress into the National Finals.