BOXING TRIO INTO FINALS
Durie’s youngsters do the club proud once again
Three boxers from Durie’s boxing club in Rutherglen have made it through to the Scottish Novice Championship finals.
James Sweeney (11), David Shevlin (16) and Cassidy Todd (17) won their bouts at The Ravenscraig Regional Sports Facility in Motherwell last weekend (October 17 and 18).
James, from Burnside, won on a unanimous decision to beat Aaron Cullen from Linwood boxing club in the 2004/2003 Schoolboy 34kg fight and David defeated Brad Reid, from Larkhall, in the Youth 1998 bout.
Rutherglen’s Cassidy Todd will fight Gemma McIntosh from Coatbridge in her semi-final Female Youth 60kg bout this weekend (October 24 and 25).
James and David will also take on Nathan Stewart and Findlay Stewart respectively.
Durie’s Shahzman Parnez (11) just missed out on a place after losing on a split decision to Isa Akram in the 2004/2003 Schoolboy 40kg fight.
Coach, Archie Durie said: “We had great performances from our three boxers with young Shahzman being very unlucky not to make it the fourth Duries boxers into finals this weekend.
“It was a very close bout to lose on points but he will have learned from this championship experience.”
Durie’s boxing club had made great preparation for the Championships after winning both bouts at the Lochaber Pheonix boxing show in Fort William on Saturday, October 10.
Shazman Parnez was appearing in the first bout of the evening and took on Elgin abc’s Corey Rizza (11).
Boxing at 40kg, Shazman kept the bout simple, using his long jab to good effect, stepping it up in the third round and he landed a few strong hits. This was enough to take the bout in a unanimous decision.
After the break, Matthew Traynor (15), was next in the ring and put in a terrific performance. Building on a good run of results, Matthew was keen to keep this going and his performance didn’t disappoint.
Even up against a vocal home support, the Durie’s boy took the contest to his opponent from the first bell, holding the middle of the ring and putting his opponent on the back foot with long jabs and back hands.
Going into the third round , the contest was in the balance. With both boxers knowing this, it turned into a barnstormer of a round but with Matthew won the split decision.
Archie added: “It was a very successful night and for the boys to win away from home was great. It was great preparation for the Novice Championship at the weekend.”