Hamer youngsters in triumphant win treble
BOXING STEVEN CONNELLAN
HAMER Amateur Boxing Club gained a hat-trick of wins on the road last weekend.
The treble started when 15-year-old Azaan Hussain travelled to the Garston Legion in Liverpool to meet local boxer Sam Grime of Gemini ABC in his first ever scoring bout.
The first bell rang to start the contest and Azaan came out of the blue corner using his long-ranged jab to keep his opponent at bay, whilst putting his weight upon his back foot in order to offload his right hand to the chin when his opponent came into range.
At first the local boxer was gaining success as he moved in to land his shots and impress his supporters. As the contest progressed Azaan slowly began to find his rhythm and he steadily began to gain success with his swift counter-punches when Grime stepped within range.
The momentum of the contest slowly began to change when Azaan began to wait for his Gemini opponent to come into range whilst throwing punches, which the Hamer boxer stepped away from, before instantly countering with swift and accurate punches to the head, then using the ring to step out of range.
In the second round, Azaan’s confidence began to show when he started to take the fight back to Grime on his front foot, and every time the Gemini boxer missed, Azaan replied with swift and accurate punches that constantly landed upon his on-coming opponent.
Grime showed great resilience as he constantly stepped onto his front foot to try and land, but Azaan’s solid right-hands were slowly taking effect and at one point the referee stopped the bout so that the Gemini corner could clean the blood off Grime’s face, which was coming from his nose.
In the third and last round Azaan knew that he had the contest within his grasp, so at first he began to take the fight to his opponent upon his front
foot when he moved in to land more telling blows to the head. His opponent was a tough lad who wouldn’t stop coming forward, so the Hamer boxer began to resort to boxing upon his back foot once again, so that he could connect with punches every time Grime came into range. Then, just before the bell rang to end the contest, Azaan stormed in to land a fourpunch combination to take the bout by a unanimous decision.
One day later, 16-yearold “Champagne” Charlie Braddock and 20-year-old Aeron “The Viking” Maddocks represented Hamer Amateur Boxing Club, when competing in the Barton ABC club show in Eccles, Manchester.
Charlie was the first Hamer boxer to step into the ring that day, when he met William Crank of Walkden ABC, and when the bell rang to start the first round, Charlie instantly showed his intentions, charging out of the blue corner upon his front foot to land swift one-two combinations to both the body and head of his opponent, who, with his much taller stance and much longer reach, also connected.
This happened throughout the entire round, with both boxers gaining success when unleashing their punches.
In round two, both boxers continued with their same style of boxing, which gained both success, before Charlie landed a solid right hand to the chin, forcing the Walkden boxer onto the ropes. Crank momentarily stepped forward with a one-two combination, which missed, then the Hamer boxer replied with a solid right uppercut to the chin and a left hook to the head, which instantly forced Crank upon his back foot again, and every time Charlie stepped in close, Crank would instantly grab hold of him so that he couldn’t land his hooks to the body and head.
It was a very close fight, which could have gone ether way, but in the third and last round Charlie instantly showed his intentions when he stormed out to constantly put Crank upon his back foot, before landing a cracking left uppercut to the chin when the Walkden boxer put his head down. Crank slowly began to show signs of tiredness, as he threw single shots at his Hamer opponent, who constantly replied with
three and four punch combinations. Then, just before the bell rang to end the round, Charlie landed another accumulation of punches to take the contest by a majority decision.
The third winner for Hamer that weekend was 20-year-old Aeron, who stepped in from the red corner on the sound of the first bell to land a one-two combination to the chin of Sean Mcmanus of Manchester 31 Boxing Academy. Then he stepped in with a double jab, only to receive a left hook to the side of his head from Mcmanus.
Aeron continued to step forward as he threw punches and Mcmanus landed another left hook, only to receive a left hook to the side of his head from his Hamer opponent, who then stepped in to land a quick one-two combination to the face, before landing a solid uppercut to the chin.
Both boxers rushed into each other again, which caused a clash of the heads, and the referee momentarily stopped the bout to take a look at Mcmanus’ head, before he allowed the contest to continue.
Both boxers continued to take the fight to each other, Mcmanus landing a small number of strong punches, whilst Aeron connected with multiple fast combinations, before Mcmanus landed a solid punch to his opponent’s groin, which forced the referee to briefly stop the contest again to make such the Hamer boxer was okay to continue and when he allowed both boxers to meet in the middle of the ring, the bell suddenly rang to end the round.
At the start of round two, Aeron came out to land a one-two combination to the head of Mcmanus, who then moved onto the ropes only to be set upon again by the Hamer boxer, who unloaded even more punches to both the body and head, before Mcmanus grabbed hold of him, which led the referee to step in and split them apart.
When the bout restarted Mcmanus landed a powerful right hook to the body of his Hamer opponent, who responded with a lightning-fast double jab to the face, followed by a solid right hand to the chin. Aeron continued to step into his opponent with speed of punch,
while Mcmanus was relying on his single shot power punch which, when it landed, momentarily stopped Aeron’s action.
As the bout continued, Aeron kept up the pressure, repeatedly forcing his opponent upon the ropes, where the Hamer boxer unloaded swift hooks to the body and head, followed by a solid uppercut to the chin, before Mcmanus grabbed hold of him again.
This continued throughout the round, whilst he also hit Aeron below the belt again, which brought another warning from the referee.
When the action started again, Aeron stormed in to unload multiple uppercuts to the chin, before Mcmanus grabbed hold again, forcing the referee to intervene once more. Then, the Hamer boxer quickly stepped back into the action to land a powerful right hand to the chin, which instantly forced the referee to step in again and administer Mcmanus a standing eight count, before he allowed the bout to continue once again, where Aeron landed two more uppercuts due to Mcmanus leaning down.
Then just as suddenly, Mcmanus landed a swinging, solid right hook to the side of Aeron’s head, which instantly prompted the referee to step in again and administer a standing eight count to the Hamer boxer.
As soon as the bell rang to start the third and last round, Aeron stormed in once again with swift punches to both body and head, followed by some cracking uppercuts, which instantly forced Mcmanus to grab hold of him once again. This continued throughout the round, as Aeron landed multiple punches, before the now tiring Mcmanus grabbed hold of him. In the last minute or so, the Hamer boxer began to use the ring to keep his distance, before rushing back into the action with swift and solid punches to the head of his opponent, to again take victory by a majority decision.
It had been a very successful weekend for Hamer Boxing Club and the head coach thanked the Hamer coaches Frank Maddocks, Matthew Lageard and Bethany Connellan for giving up their time so that these youngsters can achieve their goals.