Glorious gold medals for Lochaber Phoenix boxers
A PAIR of young Lochaber boxers punched their way to gold medals at the Scottish Novice Boxing Championships.
At the recent tournament in Ravenscraig, Ewan Easson, 14, took the Scottish Schoolboy Novice title, and a gold medal, after a tough match against the unbeaten reigning Scottish Elite champion. Lee Bruce, 17, collected Lochaber Phoenix’s second gold and became Scottish Novice Middleweight champion when he also took on an undefeated opponent.
The Scottish Novice Boxing Championships are designed for boxers at the start of their career. The entry qualifications are that any boxer cannot have participated in more than six contests before the start of the competition.
Easson, who was undefeated coming into this tournament was faced with a proverbial mountain to climb in his final when he boxed fellow undefeated Ryan Haney of Viewpark .
What made this especially dif- ficult is that Haney was not only unbeaten but was the reigning Scottish Elite Champion which is almost unheard of after so few bouts. Easson has shown such a talent for the sport he has barely lost a round in his contests. He immediately showed why the Lochaber camp hold him in such high regard by taking the centre of the ring and forcing Haney onto the back foot.
Easson attacked in combination continuously, always making sure to land the last punch of every exchange.
Battled Haney knew he had to change things in the second round and tried to force Easson backwards but his opponent realised he could not let this happen. This resulted in some of the fiercest exchanges of the contest as both boxers battled for control of the strategic position of ring centre.
The round finished with Easson again in the ascendency but he knew Haney would throw everything at him in the third round.
Haney came out strong in the last but Easson was now completely in his groove and continuously varied his attacking combinations and refused to give ground to his illustrious opponent.
While this was an incredibly skilled and intense match, the Lochaber camp was confident Easson had done enough and the unanimous decision in his favour was well deserved. It looks like this may be just the first of many titles.
Youth middleweight boxer Lee Bruce was another Lochaber boxer with a stiff task in front of him when he boxed another undefeated opponent, Murray Scott, of the famed Lochend club from Edinburgh.
Bruce is a Lochaber boxer who holds no respect for reputations and showed that success in boxing is also about discipline as well as any physical attributes.
Scott had a very tight guard and possessed great strength so Lee used the strengths he possesses, which was an advantage in speed of foot and hand.
Combination He proceeded to throw in combination through the middle and then turn Scott at every opportunity making the Lochend boxer constantly readjust his feet.
In the second round Scott worked the body as often as he could trying to slow his fleet footed opponent.
Bruce continued to change angles but always well away from the ropes to avoid being caught where he would reduce his defensive capabilities.
He made sure to fire straight shots in threes and fours. Both boxers were working at a hectic pace and the crowd were enthralled by the spectacle.
The last round saw the boxers work to almost a standstill and in the seconds Bruce finally came to a stop the two traded furious hooks until the final bell in a fitting climax to a fantastic contest.
Bruce was awarded the decision and the title. He is another local boxer with the potential to go far.
Senior middleweight Mark Gillespie unfortunately lost his semi-final on the Saturday against James Flaherty of Bannockburn.
Each round was fought on a familiar vein with Gillespie skirting the outside of the ring and Flaherty pressing forwards. Both boxers landed a similar amount of punches but the judges favoured the more aggressive work of the Bannockburn boxer.
Valuable lesson This was a bout that was quite easily within the reaches of the more talented Gillespie if he had worked a bit more but it was a valuable lesson to take on board for the future.
This weekend Cameron Whyte, 13, travels to Russia as part of the Scottish Schoolboy squad taking part in the European Championships.
It is a 10- day long competition and with only seven boxers selected out of the entire country it is a credit to Whyte that he has put himself in this position through talent, desire and hard work, training regularly at the Scottish high performance centre in Glasgow as well as the Lochaber Phoenix gym.
He trained at the Lochaber gym from Monday to Thursday this week putting the finishing touches to his training camp having spent the previous four days in Glasgow training three times a day.