Macc trio enjoy show victories
MACCLESFIELD Boys Boxing Club took five boxers to Congleton to take part in Beartown’s annual show.
Unfortunately, as is sometimes the case, not all the scheduled bouts came off for what ever reason and two of the lads – Lucas Earle and Joe Straw – were left without a contest.
The strong ties between Beartown and MBBC meant this was akin to a home show for the Macclesfield lads, with plenty of support in their favour.
First up was the pocket rocket, Scott Attward.
He was supposed to take on Campbell Hatton – son of Ricky – but he had pulled out with an injury.
His replacement, Archie Alton of Quarry Lane ABC in Nottingham, was a class boxer, so a another tough contest lay ahead.
When the bell rang to start the fight Alton fired a barrage of shots off the back of Attward making an attempt to touch gloves before the start.
This didn’t go down well with Attward as he opened up straight away, giving Alton a taste of what was to come.
After an initial scrappy start Attward settled into his awkward, agile style as he threw shots at will, drawing Alton on then landing his own punches, nice skilful boxing.
Round two was a much better round as Attward was now feeling confident as Alton, who was a clever kid, showed good ring skill, holding on the blind side of the referee all the tricks in the book which highlighted his experience.
This didn’t go unnoticed and the ref did eventually pull him up on the holding.
Alton also took a standing eight count in this round as he walked in to one of Attward’s big punches.
Round three saw Attward was in control but Alton was game and never stopped trying as he threw some nice combinations.
Attward turned up the gas and Alton was on the same level and as the bell went – but the result was inevitable, Attward winning by unanimous decision.
Next up was big Chris Bowes who has been making himself known on the circuit this season.
His opponent was Liam Marsh from Beartown and with a room full of supporters the roof was lifting off as they touched gloves to start the contest.
Marsh was game and threw some big bombs in Bowes direction and he was catching with them.
But Bowes just sucked them up and walked on, throwing his own punches, again on target and putting Marsh on the back foot at times.
Both boxers threw some powerful shots that hit on target but again Bowes just walked through them.
Round two was much the same as both lads gave it their all, but there was a clear advantage in Bowes’ favour as he through shot after shot.
Round three, and with the crowd on their feet supporting Marsh all the way, he walked on to a beautiful shot from Bowes prompting the ref to give an eight count.
Bowes knew the score and proceeded to up his work rate right to the final ding – another formidable win on an unanimous decision, winning all three rounds.
The last contest of the night was George Parrish, boxing for Macclesfield but from Congleton.
All the support for Marsh switched to the local boxer as he took on Wirral Community Boxing Club’s Connor Leary, a very good kid.
This was an elite contest over three three-minute rounds and what a contest!
Round one saw Parrish go to work nice and steadily to start then as he got the measure of Leary he started to turn it up slightly.
Leary, the taller of the two, was working well behind his jab, keeping it at distance.
But Parrish pushed on, cutting down Leary’s shots and working on the inside.
Round one in the bag, Parrish went to work in the second with combination after combination.
Leary, with a tight guard, took the shots on the gloves but every so often Parrish would break through.
Round three and Parrish was enjoying every moment.
Leary was giving as much as he got at times but Parrish’s work rate showed as he kept munching away, grinding his opponent down and catching with some lovely uppercuts through the middle.
An excellent display of boxing from both kids but the was only one winner and as Parrish had his arms raised on another unanimous win, giving credit to his opponent who had been game from the start.
So as the season ends MBBC can reflect on an excellent display and some fantastic achievements with kids representing England and competing internationally, and to show our acknowledgement the club will make its annual pilgrimage to Blackpool this Sunday to spar at Kingscoate ABC and then the Sandcastle with fish and chips on the beach.