Youngster impresses in Preston
Ring triumph for O’Neil’s boxer Chloe Bodwick, 14
A Cambuslang club’s young boxer enjoyed another victory recently.
Chloe Bodwick, who fights with O’Neil’s ABC, triumphed on a card in Preston.
However there was disappointment for another O’Neil’s fighter, Conner McCabe when his opponent called off at the last minute.
That left 14-year-old Chloe as the club’s only representative.
She was fighting MTK’s Amalie Garcia, a recent bronze medalist for England in the European Schoolboys/Schoolgirls Championsips held in Bulgaria.
Chloe started well, with nice fast jabs followed by some lovely left and right crosses.
Garcia tried to draw Chloe close in with shots to the body but the teenager out-punched her with nice punches on the inside.
Garcia, a clever and tough boxer, changed her stance in the next two rounds to try and throw Chloe off.
Although she had success with some punches making their way through, Chloe was unfazed and some nice combinations kept the English girl at bay.
Chloe’s sharp, accurate punches made the scorecard pleasant reading as the judges scored her as the unanimous winner in what was an excellent contest.
Coach Brian Murphy said: “Chloe fought beautifully. Almost every punch was a scoring one and her footwork was fantastic.
“Our new coaching team, including Andy Rundell and Brian Murphy Jnr have been working with her intensely over the past week.
“Chloe already has the raw talent and has been improving all the time, but tonight was different class, she was brilliant.”
Chloe herself was over the moon at the win.
She said: “That was a brilliant start to the new season. She was a good tough opponent and I’m glad to get back to winning ways. I feel that I improved on my performance in the GB Chapionships and would like to thank my coaches and team-mates for working me so hard and for their continued support”.