Shildon Amateur Boxing Club held their first home show of the year on Saturday 17 January at The Civic Hall.
There were twelve bouts on the day with seven of them contested by home boxers. The first of the seven was Henry Whitfield who performed very well in his skills (non scoring) bout in what was his first performance on a home show, Henry and his opponent won the best skills bout of the day award.
On to the scoring bouts now and first up was Tye Noble who boxed an opponent from Cleator Moor, it was a hard fought bout with Tye showing more skill and determination to come out with a split decision. Blake Bell also boxed an opponent from Cleator Moor and boxed very well on the day to win a unanimous decision, Blake went on to win the Best Shildon Boxer award. Both Tye and Blake had lost to the same two boxers back in October over in Cumbria so it was great for them to get revenge and I’m sure they will meet again in the future.
Henri Brown was the next home boxer in the ring, unfortunately he came off second best on the day against a very strong boxer from Barnard Castle boxing club, I’m sure he’ll bounce back soon. Last bout before the interval saw Joshua Jardine in against a very tall boxer from Spennymoor boxing academy, another tough contest but Joshua came out on the right side of a split decision.
Onto the senior bouts and Lucas Heels showed total dominance against a very good boxer from Sunderland East End, giving the lad counts in the first and second round before the referee stepped in and stopped the fight. Lucas won the best Shildon Senior award. Topping the bill was Hal Stephenson who was challenging for the vacant Tyne, Tees and Wear 57kg belt against Callum Forster from Dunston, in a frantic fight. The action was great to watch as the fight went one way then the other, Forster won the first two rounds meaning Hal needed a stoppage in the last round. He almost did just that, dominating the round and pushing Forster all the way as he hung on to win a split decision. I’m sure there will be a rematch somewhere down the line.
Overall it was a great days boxing. A massive thanks to all the sponsors of the show, the staff at the Civic Hall and to everyone in attendance.
Shildon & District's local community newspaper.
