Success for Hamer boxers in first fights of 2025

Two fighters from Hamer Amateur Boxing Club travelled to Stubby's boxing show in Shaw on Saturday 22 February to compete in the club’s first bouts of the new year.

First on for Hamer was 15-year-old Bruce McCormick, who was competing in his first ever open class boxing bout against Abdalla Said of Moss Side Fire Station Boxing Club. When the bell rang to signal the start of round one, Bruce came out of the blue corner to meet his opponent in the centre of the ring and was at first unable to stop his Moss Side opponent storming towards him, throwing numerous punches.

As the bout continued, Said was relentless, but Bruce slowly began to find his momentum as he began to judge Said’s movement towards him. The Hamer boxer began to step back upon his back foot so Said did not make contact, before instantly stepping back into the action with a solid right hand punch to the chin every time Said stepped into range.

It was a very close round that could have gone either way, but because of Said’s relentless attacking method, Hamer coach Steven Connellan thought that the judges may have given the round to the Moss Side boxer. He told Bruce to step up on his front foot and go forward and take the action back to his opponent, because he noticed that every time Bruce landed his solid right-hand punch, Said suddenly stopped his momentum and began to cover up and step out of range.

In round two, the tide began to turn when Bruce followed his coach’s instructions and began to step up on his front foot and take the action back to his opponent whilst continuously landing his solid right-hand punch to the chin, which quickly made Said step upon his back foot whilst trying to stay out of range.

The momentum of the action made the Hamer boxer’s opponent rethink his approach to the contest and he began to wait for Bruce to attack him, before trying to land punches of his own upon Bruce. Towards the end of the round, Said landed a solid jab to the face of his oncoming Hamer opponent, only to receive a clever uppercut, followed by numerous left and right hooks to both the body and head, whilst Said laid upon the ropes unable to get away.

Before the start of the third and last round, the Hamer coach told Bruce to keep up the offensive action whist continuing to carry the fight to his opponent with his solid right hand punch, and when the bell rang to start the round, Bruce immediately began to throw relentless and fast armed one-two combinations, before unloading hurtful hooks to both the body and head when stepping in close to his Moss Side opponent, who continued to try and step back out of range.

The fight continued like this for quite a while, with Bruce relentlessly stepping forward whilst landing solid punches upon his opponent, who continued to step upon his back foot whilst moving around the ring and trying to stay out of range.

The Moss Side boxer was taking quite a lot of punishment, which forced the referee to ask the Hamer boxer to step into the neutral corner, whilst he gave his opponent a standing eight count, after he received a right hook to the body, followed by left and right hooks to the head.

As soon as the bout was allowed to continue, Bruce instantly stormed back into the action, and fair play to his opponent, who made his way to the middle of the ring whilst planting his feet to unload punches of his own, and as both boxers unloaded solid punches upon each other, the crowd jumped upon their feet to show their appreciation as the action progressed with both boxers landing solid punches upon each other throughout the rest of the round, which had all three judges vote in favour of Hamer boxer Bruce McCormick by a unanimous decision.

 

 

The next Hamer boxer to step into the action was 17-year-old Jack Thirsk, who faced a slightly taller opponent in James Eccles from Stubby’s Gym. Eccles was the first to step into the action with his long armed two punch combinations. As soon as Jack found his range and distance, he slowly began to take control with his powerful combinations to the head, followed by his hurtful hooks to both the body and head, which forced the referee to step in and warn Eccles to keep his head up.

As the bout progressed. Jack began to find his momentum, whilst continuing to unload solid blows to both the body and head of his opponent, who tried hard to keep his distance from his Hamer antagonist with his own long armed punch combinations. Then quite suddenly, the Hamer boxer stormed into his opponent to unleash a flurry of hard combinations followed by a swinging left hook to the jaw, which immediately forced the referee to step in and give Eccles a standing eight count.

As soon as the count finished, Jack stormed back into the action with encouragement from the crowd, as he began to unload even more hurtful hooks to the body and head of his courageous opponent, who continued to step into the action with his long-armed combinations, before the bell rang to end the round.

Before the start of round two, the Hamer coach told Jack to save his energy for the last round by snapping out his jab before stepping back out of range, to bring his opponent onto him so that he could make him miss and counter-punch with his solid right hand to the chin when Eccles came towards him.

However, when the bell rang to start the second round, the referee immediately stepped between both boxers to examine James Eccles' badly swollen left eye, which forced him to lead the boxer to the doctor to give Eccles a further examination and on seeing the swelling on the eye, the doctor immediately called an end to the bout in favour of the Hamer boxer Jack Thirsk.