AMATEURSCENE

The very best action, previews and news from Olympic-style boxing

ROTHERHAM

MAY 27-28

REPTON middleweight Jimmy Sains raced to Three Nations gold in Rotherham.

Sains made short work of Lewys Parfitt (Wales) in the semi-finals to set up a repeat of the NAC final, against Stephen Clarke (Rotunda). Clarke edged that bout in Newcastle on a split – and Sains had his revenge at the Magna Centre.

The Londoner handed him three counts before it was waved off in the second. Sains gave Clarke a count in the opener after forcing him to the ropes,

A vengeful Jimmy Sains among the winners on a fiercely entertaining weekend

but it was the Liverpudlians in the crowd who were cheering early in the second as Clarke started to land his shots.

Sains was untroubled and answered with a left-right-left hook to the jaw that made Clarke stumble and the referee jump in to give him a count.

The round was only midway through and Sains found the punches to finish the bout. He pushed Clarke back with a flurry of jabs that teed up a thunderous right hand-left hook combination that turned Clarke’s legs to spaghetti and prompted the towel from his corner.

Sains was also a quick winner in the semi-finals, stopping Parfitt in the first round. The referee gave Parfitt a count after Sains dazed him with a hard right-hand counter to the jaw and the Londoner finished the bout in style,

leaving Parfitt on his knees with a leftright-left hook to the body combination.

Scottish southpaw Luke Bibby retained the 63kgs title with clear-cut back-to-back points wins.

The absence of NAC champion Giorgio Visioli through a back injury was a disappointment and in the last four Bibby unanimously outpointed his replacement, Amali Davis.

That set up a final against Daniel Walshe, who had beaten Shehzad Azam (England) on a 3-2 split verdict.

Bibby crowded Walshe and kept him under pressure throughout. Though the Welshman looked ragged at times, he landed enough uppercuts to stay in it and bloodied Bibby’s nose in the last. Bibby won a 4-1 split and has now won 10 of his last 11 bouts.