Bengal Tiger roars into national final
SHAHRUF ‘The Bengal Tiger’ Ali roared into the 44KG Open Class National Final when he beat Liam Jones of Droitwich ABC at Grantham Meres Leisure Centre, Grantham, Lincolnshire.
On the sound of the first bell both boxers, looked to impose themselves.
The much taller Droitwich boxer tried to use his range to keep Shahruf at bay while the 14-year-old Hamer youth looked to get inside and unload punches to the body.
It was a fast and frantic first round that saw both boxers gain success in the early stages but as the round moved on Shahruf began to take control.
He cunningly allowed Jones to throw one-two combination punches, which the Hamer boxer caught on his gloves. Then he unloaded a three to four punch combination to both body and head. It was a tactic that constantly worked and Jones head was jolted back on many occasions.
Before the start of round two Shahruf was told by his coach Steven Connellan to expect Jones to come out stronger.
He was told to match his opponent with everything and to always be the last to land his punches and if the Droitwich boxer stepped back then Shahruf should push forward with a ybarrage of punches.
The bell rang for the second round and Jones took to the middle of the ring, planted his feet and began to unload his power punches.
It was an admirable tactic by him, but it played into Shahruf’s Hands and the Rochdale terror met him with his own determined intensity has he shifted into another gear and began landing hurtful punches to the body before finishing with big hooks to the head.
Jones began to tire from the onslaught and all he could do was to stand his ground and try to match Shahruf with punches, but the Hamer youngster’s volume of punches overwhelmed the Droitwich youth and Shahruf began to jolt his head back with scintillating uppercuts.
In the third and last round the Hamer boxer attacked his opponent with intent and to show the judges he was in control. He threw a whirlwind of punches that Jones couldn’t match and his constant pressure continuously forced his opponent onto the back foot and onto the ropes where Shahruf continued to land hooks to the body before finishing with his uppercut. Shahruf was in total control of the contest by now, yet his very tired opponent showed great determination to try and match ‘The Bengal Tiger’ but as the seconds in the round began to ebb to the final bell the referee moved closer to the action ready to step in and give Jones a standing eight count, but the end came with him trying to battle back, only to see Shahruf’s arms raised with a unanimous decision in his favour.
Hamer coach Alan Bacon said: “What a performance that was. Shahruf is improving all of the time. And what determination he showed after such a long wait when ythe Championships where cancelled at the last minute last weekend in Essex.
Jude English, 14, also represented Hamer in the National Semi-Finals but was unsuccessful against last year’s champion Jessica Williams of Selby ABC.