Contentious decision in Barnes bout
HAVING won the regional championship and been crowned northwest junior champion, young Liam Barnes made his way to Audley Sports
Centre in Blackburn along with coaches Tom Barnes and Jordan Reed for the National pre-quarter finals.
His opponent was from Tyne Tees and a champion with a top record – Alvin Jiho from Benwell Victoria ABC, a tall, very rangy boxer so we knew it was going to be a tough day.
Liam was bout four and the first three bouts had seen every northwest champion lose, so the judges were not in our favour which is always a worry.
Liam was fired up and as soon as the bell sounded he went to work. He had the measure of his opponent almost immediately, catching with right hooks and left backhands from the outside at distance which we didn’t expect as Alvin was much taller than Liam.
It was working brilliantly as Liam pinched the shots at will. Every so often, Alvin would cut the ring down and tie Liam up, imposing his physical advantages and spoiling the fight. Liam would put his arms up hoping the referee would shout break but instead
Alvin would sneak two or three shots in making himself look good.
Liam was showing too much respect and should have just worked on the inside but never the less he was firing the better shots, holding centre ring and looking class in his subpar stance and really out shining Alvin, who was holding then throwing sneaky shots.
This was pretty much the fight in a nutshell, who knows how the judges score it but for me it’s got to be the nice boxing at range, the cleaner accurate shots as opposed to the messy shots on the inside. After all it’s boxing, not fighting. Anyway we and almost half the changing rooms thought Liam had done enough. Liam thought he’d done enough but as with the first three contests the judges decided to go with the away fighter, giving Alvin Jiho the win via a split. Very disappointing to say the least.
Liam knows he won that bout and will come back stronger in the future, he’s one of the most committed kids in the gym, trains so hard and is a great example to other kids in the gym.