Queensway ace secures finals place

QUEENSWAY ABC are off to the Junior National cadet championship finals after a punch perfect display by Zain Ahmed.

Zain was up first on the weekend in the championships and from the first bell was landing shots at ease and moving back out of range to the frustration of his opponent.

All three rounds went exactly the same way, sending Zain into the final.

Coach David Hodkinson said: “In the final we have a big task ahead of us as the kid we are facing has managed to stop all previous opponents within the three rounds, never leaving it to the judges.

“He is a very strong and hard hitting young man, these type of opponents are always going to be a danger but hopefully we will stick to a game plan and pull off the win.”

Next up and looking for a place in the final was Joe Crawford.

He was up against Huey Malone who had beaten him twice previously coming into the contest, so he knew it was going to be a tough fight.

In round one, Malone came out of the blocks a little bit faster than Crawford, didn’t let him find his rhythm and took the first round.

The jab was the key to Joe winning the bout so the Queensway coaching staff urged him to use it at every opportunity, which he did in the second round, allowing him to find his range and land the second phase, taking the round.

Round three went exactly the same with Crawford dominating the first and third stages of the attack clearly leaving Malone running out of options.

As the bell went you could see Malone was a beaten fighter and Crawford had finally had his sweet revenge.

However, the judges delivered a terrible blow with a split decision loss.

“The result was as much as a surprise to Malone’s corner as it was ours but that’s boxing for you,” said Hodkinson.