NORTHERN STARS
Malone impresses in the Northern NABGC semi-“nals
HUEY MALONE was one of the stars of the Northern semi-finals of the NABGC championship at North Solihull Sports Centre.
The 16-year-old from Christ The King is looking to add the Class B 63kgs title to the Junior ABA and Tri Nations honours he won last season and reached the final with a split points win over Ali Akbar
Javid (Bury) that really should have been unanimous.
Malone didn’t leave Javid alone throughout. He started fast, getting close and unloading clusters to body and head, and whenever Javid tried to get into the fight, Malone answered with combinations of quality punches that came from everywhere.
One of the best bouts of a good afternoon’s boxing came in Class B at 66kgs where Ryan Dickens (Salisbury) was pushed hard by
Remi Boxill (Second City) after handing him two counts in the opener, the second from a clean hook that had everything behind it. Boxhill came back to bloody the Liverpudlian’s nose.
Elsewhere in Class B, there was good action at 57kgs with Edward Hardy (Highfields) making sure of a split points vote over Brayden Davies (Donnington) with a big final minute, while Joe Crawford (Queensway) looked a shade unfortunate to drop a split to Davien Davies (Eastside) after a clash of good technicians.
In Class C, the non-stop pressure of chunky Birtley slugger Owen Rees earned him a unanimous decision over Owen Cooper (Worcester City) at 69kgs.
Nicked over his right eye in the second, Rees took just about every left hand the polished Cooper threw, but nothing could stop his forward march.
At 64kgs, Hoddesdon’s George Mitchell impressed. The taller Mitchell let Anthony Mckenna (Transport) come to him and met his attacks with smooth twos and threes in a dominant opener.
Mckenna was more thoughtful in the second, but Mitchell didn’t fall for his feints and the best action came in the last. Mckenna closed the gap quicker, but Mitchell had the last word in the exchanges.
In Class D, St Pauls southpaw
Harvey Lambert, beaten in last season’s Elite welterweight final by Harris Akbar, outpointed the willing
Inder Bassi (Hoddesdon). Bassi kept it close going into the last before Lambert finished stronger, scoring a knockdown.
There was a one-punch finish at 52kgs. Phoenix Fire’s Mohammed Naseeb smartly adjusted his feet and walked Cumar Cumar (Birmingham City) onto a whipping right hand that sent him to his knees and the referee instantly waved it off.
At 75kgs, Triumph southpaw
Bradley Goldsmith ground out a unanimous win over game Reece Farnhill (Sandygate) after feeling body shots in the last.