Hamer’s Afeez dictates bout
HAMER Amateur Boxing Club continued with their busy schedule when they took three boxers to compete against Salford City Boxing Academy at Higher Irlam Social Club recently.
First to open the show was 10-year-old Austin ‘Powers’ Hennagan who met Harry Barton in a skills bout that saw both youngsters put in a terrific performance that instantly had the crowd shouting out encouragement to both boxers and in the end a boisterous round of applause met both boxers when the referee raised both contestants’ arms up into the air in appreciation of their action.
‘Champagne’ Charlie Braddock, 10, was the next one to step into the ring for Hamer when he met Oscar McCann in the third skills bout of the evening.
The Skills bout, where nobody gained the decision, saw both boxers once again show great determination as they traded punches in the centre of the ring throughout all three rounds to the delight of the crowd.
Next on for Hamer was 15-year-old Aman ‘Any Way I Can’ Afeez who had to wait until bout number twelve before he stepped into the ring to meet another Salford City boxer in the shape of Thomas O’Connor.
Both boxers came out for round one to land swift combination punches whilst trying to take the centre of the ring to impress the judges.
And as the round progressed the Hamer boxer began to find his range with his jab which forced O’Connor onto the ropes and the Rochdale boxer landed a heavy right hand, left hook combination, followed by another right hand to the jaw which clearly hurt the local boxer and he immediately used the ring to try and find some distance.
From there on it was Aman who began to dictate the action as he continuously forced O’Connor onto the back foot with straight one, two combinations to the head to see out the round.
Before the start of round two Aman was told by his coach Steven Connellan that O’Connor was clearly hurt during the first round and that he should continue to take the fight to his opponent by using his double jab, followed by a straight right hand to force his opponent onto the ropes.
Then he was told to unleash power punches to both the body and head.
The bell rang for round two and Aman immediately continued to dictate the pace of the action as he forced O’Connor onto his back foot with fast double jab, right hand combinations to the head.
O’Connor was on the ropes when the Hamer boxer landed a solid right hand which forced the Salford boxer to spin off the ropes with his head lowed whilst trying to find some distance but when he raised his head again the Hamer boxer landed another terrific right hand to the jaw and the referee immediately jumped in to administer O’Connor a standing eight count.
The Salford boxer tried to get back into the contest by trying to land punches of his own, but he was also constantly lowering his head and received numerous warnings from the referee.
Before the start of round three Aman was in total control of the bout.
In the third and last round the Salford boxer tried hard to get a foot hold back in the contest but he was met by heavy punches once again from Aman.
At one point the Hamer corner thought O’Connor would receive another standing eight count against him when Aman caught his opponent with uppercuts and hooks while O’Connor continued to lower his head, but the referee stopped the bout to give O’Connor another warning about lowering his head.
The round continued with Aman forcing the pressure and O’Connor lowering his head and in the end Aman had his hand raised in victory by unanimous decision.