Noel takes Leeds travesty on chin
MBBC boxers Archie Dale and Louis Darricote made the trip up to Oldham at short notice.
Newly appointed coach Joe Collins and not so newly appointed coach Pete Munday had agreed to cover this one with lads also out in Leeds on the same night.
Archie kicked the night off against Ethan Lynch from Team Greaves.
This was a great little skill bout with both kids doing what they where told great composure sticking the controlled shots and giving a strong display for the spectators.
Next up was Louis Darricote, having literally taken the bout with 24 hours notice to save Team Greaves’ show.
His opponent, Luke Quinlan, was far more experienced, taller, heavier and the home boxer so the odds were stacked against Louis but, always up for a challenge, he jumped at it.
Round one saw both lads working hard, Louis trying to get in close enough to work and sticking his jab out to subdue Luke’s attacks.
This pretty much went on for the full three rounds as every time Louis got close enough Luke would lean on him and smothered his shots, making it difficult to show his skill.
Luke boxed the perfect bout, keeping long range then spoiling every time Louis tried to work.
This was picked up by the judges and the home lad got the win. It was a great learning curve for
Louis, who struggles to get contests so takes every bout the club sends his way – he can’t be faulted for that and will come back stronger from this experience.
On the same evening there was a quick trip up the M62 to Leeds for both the Straw brothers who should have been boxing.
But with Joe’s opponent pulling out in the morning due to sore throat it was down to younger brother Noel to do the business against a top kid from SYD Ringside ABC, Dillon Linley who, with 28 bouts under his belt, was going to be no push over.
When they entered the ring Dillon was short stocky and clearly modelled himself on Iron Mike Tyson – black shorts, black vest, black boots.
He looked quite intimidating, but Noel wasn’t the slightest bit intimidated and as soon as the bell sounded he went to work, switch hitting, moving and picking off Dillon at every exchange.
Dillon stayed very low and threw big overhand rights but missed every time. The only success he had was when he pinned Noel against the ropes and tried to offload body shots but even those were hitting gloves.
Noel was on fire and wasn’t leaving anything to doubt as he picked off his opponent shot after shot, clearly out boxing the messy slugger Dillon who was tiring as the fight went on.
Round three and the penultimate round saw Noel moving well, staying off the ropes and catching at will.
This was by far his best round as Dillon couldn’t answer the onslaught as Noel banged the shots home, dominating the third.
However, the winner in the red corner Dillon Linley – even he looked shocked. This was travesty of justice but Noel took it on the chin, knowing he’d won the bout hands down.
He even shook his opponent’s hand – he knew he’d lost it but he hadn’t judged it. This happens when you box outside your region and you just get used to it! On to the next contest.