NEW GYM, FRESH START
Acocks Green ABC in Birmingham re-opens its doors
ACOCKS GREEN ABC opens its new gym in Birmingham on Monday.
They were forced to find new premises a couple of months ago and coach Craig Storer reports there is room for “three rings and 25 bags” at a facility in Tyseley that measures 12,500 square feet.
Storer describes the new gym as “humungous” and laughed: “We could have 100 boxers training there and it would still look empty!”
Storer explained: “We were given two months’ notice on the old gym. We were told it was being changed to a storage facility and we had two months to move out.
“We didn’t know what we were going to do. We found this place that used to be the Rover headquarters a couple of miles away.
“It was massive – and a mess. It had been empty since 2006 and there was no lighting or plumbing and the roof leaked.
“It was a lot bigger than what we were looking for, but we decided to go for it.
“Me and my dad (Barry) took two weeks off work, put a lot of hours in and got it right.
“We think it’s the best gym in Birmingham. I’m not sure there are many others like it in the country.”
The club currently has 18 boxers carded, including Lucy Kings-wheatley, who won both Elite and Tri Nations championships at 60kgs this season.
Kings-wheatley spent last weekend in Sheffield at a Great Britain assessment, while eight of her clubmates were in action at Tyseley Working Men’s Club.
Storer paid matchmaker Brian Robb a compliment, saying there were three contests that could have been named Bout of the Night.
The award went to the junior battle between George Brennan and Jagar Nobagi (Gloveworks) at 54kgs.
Brennan got the unanimous decision after three rounds of action as they hurled combination after combination at each other.
The rematch between flyweights Jaden Kayenne and Youth champion Jay Van-gelder (Mannings) was much anticipated.
Earlier this season, Kayenne won a split points decision after a battle that was named Bout of the Night – and the rematch was just as hard-fought.
Both boxers had good support and Van-gelder got the split vote after another desperately close fight.
Dylan Clift (Acocks Green) looked rather flat in his points loss to
Mo Hamed (Leicester Lightning) and heavyweight
Chadrack Kayama landed the punch of the night, a right hand to the chin of
Aston Dawsett (Boxclever) in a dramatic end to their clash.
Noah Wood, Lewis Dixon and Rehan Sohail all impressed in skills bouts.