Hamer’s weekend of ups and downs
IN what was to be a busy and emotional weekend for Hamer Amateur Boxing Club, 11-year-old Allana “Top Banana” Shaw travelled to Congleton Town Hall on Friday to take up the challenge of Libby Frost of Beartown ABC.
With the backing from her own crowd, Frost stormed out in the first round to take the fight to the Hamer boxer with wild swinging arms that caught Allana upon the ropes.
The Rochdalian was a little taken aback by her opponent’s method of attack and it took a while for her to settle into the contest, but as the round progressed Allana began to find her range and unload one/two combinations to the head.
At the start of the second round, Allana took to the centre of the ring to off load more crisp one-two combinations as Frost moved in. This continued throughout the round, yet Frost managed to catch Allana flush on the chin on the odd occasion which made the bout that little bit closer.
Frost was tired in the third and last round, which allowed Allana to work on her combinations and she connected with fast one-twos before swiftly moving off on her front foot to keep her distance. Throughout the round the Hamer ace caught her opponent on the chin as she stepped forward and it wasn’t until the last ten seconds before Frost tried to get back into the contest but it was too late to influence the judges who voted in favour of the Hamer girl.
The next day, two up and coming Hamer youngsters met their opponents at Champness Hall in Rochdale.
First up was 10-year-old Austin “Powers” Heneghan who showed incredible skills for one so young when boxing Bailey Butterworth of Stubby’s Gym.
The bout was a skills bout where no verdict is given but had it been then Austin would have clearly won.
Next up was 14-year-old Louis “One One Eight” Humphreys, who was also contesting a skills bout against Sonny Heneghan of Stubby’s Gym. This was Humphreys’ first ever bout for Hamer, yet he showed no nerves as he continued to off load long one-two combinations to the chin of his opponent.
Whenever Heneghan stepped in close, Louis just stepped back to unload more straight punches to the head and if the officials had scored it, then the win would have been for the Hamer youngster yet again.
On Sunday, 15-year-old Aeron “The Viking” Maddocks had to scale a mountain when he was matched against England international Jake Abrol of Sharpstyle Boxing Club in the semi-final of the 60kg, Class A, NABGC Northwest Region Championships at Tameside Boxing Gym, Tameside.
Abrol was a very experienced veteran of 43 contests with 36 wins and only seven defeats, and when the bell rang for round one he immediately showed why he was an England international when he unloaded swift and hurtful punches to both the body and head whilst the Hamer boxer tried to land solid shots in return.
Aeron came out for the second round and he began to take the fight to his Sharpstyle opponent and force him onto the ropes where he unloaded hooks to the body and head which brought blood from his opponent’s nose.
But it wasn’t long before Abrol began to land blows of his own to the body, which clearly hurt the Hamer lad. Incredibly, the Hamer youngster bit down hard upon his gum shield and to the delight of the crowd, he began to fight back.
At the start of the third and last round both boxers stood in the centre of the ring to unload savage punches upon each other but as time flowed on it was Abrol who impressed the judges with his swift and hurtful punching to get the win. When Team Hamer left the ring they experienced something rarely seen at boxing matches anymore. As they made their way through the crowd numerous individuals came up to shake Aeron’s hand and pat him on the back to congratulate him on such a terrific performance whilst many others in the crowd continued to clap and applaud him.
Sadly the same fate fell upon 17 year old Monir “Real Money” Miah when he met the more experienced Umar Niaz of Technique ABC in the semifinal of the 64kg , Class C, Northwest Region Championships, which was also held at Tameside Boxing Gym, Tameside.
From the very start Niaz used his experience to step into the Hamer boxer’s path with two and three punch combinations to the head before tying up the Hamer boxer’s arms to stifle his work.
This continued throughout the whole of the match without any intervention from the referee, which frustrated the Hamer corner. Monir did manage to land some hurtful punches on occasion but it wasn’t enough to take the verdict.