Hamer’s Tiger roars into semi-final
SHAHRUF ‘The Bengal Tiger’ Ali of Hamer Amateur Boxing Club roared into the National Open Class Semi-finals when he beat John Fox of Stockbridge ABC at Croxteth Sports Centrew, on Saturday.
Right from the bell the Hamer youngster didn’t give Fox any room nor time to use his substantial height and reach advantage as he stormed into his opponent with crunching punches to both the body and head.
The Liverpool youngster tried to use the ring and his jab to keep Shahruf at bay, but the Hamer terror continued to force Fox onto the rope where he unloaded hooks and uppercuts upon his opponent to convincingly take the first round.
Before the start of round two Shahruf was told by his coach Steven Connellan that Fox would come out stronger and look to take the fight to the Rochdale youngster. He was told to keep a tight guard and up his game and match anything Fox did and end any exchange of punches with punches of his own to show the judges he was still in-control.
The bell rang and both boxers met in the middle of the ring. The 14-yearold Hamer boxer continued to press and unload fast and hurtful punches to both the body and head while Fox tried to keep his opponent at range.
Fox began to wilt a little and he was unable to use the ring to his advantage and to the delight of the crowd he began to stand and trade with the Hamer youth and to be fair to him he showed great grit and determination but it was Shahruf who continued to land the last blows and telling uppercuts.
Shahruf emerged for the last rounddetermined to make it into the next round as he continued to give Fox no respite. Shahruf forced his tired opponent onto the ropes and let loose with a barrage of punches, while all Fox could do was lower his head and the Hamer youth unloaded telling uppercuts to jolt his opponent’s head back.
Towards the end of the bout Fox elected to throw body shots at the Rochdale youngster, but in doing so he stayed in range to allow Shahruf to answer with two and three punch combinations to take the win to progress into the semi-finals in Basildon, Essex, along with two other Hamer hopefuls in Jude English, whose opponent didn’t show and Grant Kershaw who received a bye.