Learning curve for Hamer duo
BIG Ben Braddock travelled to the Holiday Inn in Bolton to take on the challenge of the local Halliwell ABC boxer Adam Mirga.
When the bell rang to signal the start of the contest, the Hamer boxer came out of the blue corner to meet his opponent in the middle of the ring, where both boxers attempted to land their solid power punches whilst probing with their jabs to find openings.
As the round proceeded, both boxers gained success with their crushing blows to the head, with Ben taking the centre of the ring and Mirga using the perimeter with his much longer reach.
In round two, Ben instantly landed his power shot to the chin of Mirga, who replied with a forceful strike of his own to the head, whilst stepping in closer to his Hamer opponent, who was in the centre of the ring.
The excitement within the room grew louder as Mirga began to land more frequent and much swifter punches to the face, whilst the Hamer boxer landed the much heavier but infrequent and sporadic blows to the head.
In the third and last round, both boxers began to show signs of fatigue as they began to lean upon each other whilst throwing punches, which fell in Ben’s favour, due to the fact that he was landing the much stronger blows.
But in the end the contest went in favour of the local boxer by a very close split-decision.
It was a decent performance by the Hamer boxer, who later realised that if he wants success and have his arm raised in victory, then would have to work much harder upon his fitness, diet and his stamina.
Kieren “Special K” Mcmenamy travelled to the Ashton Masonic Hall to compete in the North West Region Semi-finals of the National Amateur Championships against the much more experienced 35-bout opponent, Ethyn Weaver of Leigh ABC.
When the bell rang to signal the start of the contest, both boxers came out to the centre of the ring with their probing jabs to find openings.
Weaver began to step upon his front foot to take the fight to his Hamer opponent, whilst Kieren stepped upon his back foot to use his much longer reach, as his Leigh opponent stepped into range.
Both boxers were gaining success with their style of boxing, which the fans appreciated as the Hamer boxer skilfully stepped out of range, before quickly stepping back into range with his swift right hand, which landed upon the chin of his experienced rival.
Weaver also gained success when he waited for Kieren to throw his jab, so that the Leigh boxer could slip the punch and get inside his Hamer opponent to land his solid
punches to both the body and head. It was a well fought first round where both boxers gained success, with Weaver landing the much heavier southpaw blows to the head, whilst Mcmenamy replied with instantaneous and swifter punches of his own.
Before the start of round two, Hamer coach Steven Connellan advised Kieren to up the pace of the action with his punches, whilst also telling him to constantly move around the ring to stay out of range for his much stronger, heavy handed opponent.
When the bell rang to start round two, Weaver suddenly showed signs of fatigue as he stepped away from his Hamer opponent, which prompted Kieren to move in closer upon his front foot to land his much swifter punches to the head.
The Leigh supporters slowly began to show signs of concern and anxiety as they shouted out to Weaver to pick up the action, whilst the Hamer
boxer continued to land swift two and three punch combinations to the head.
Then, towards the end of the round, the noise from the crowd suddenly exploded when the Leigh boxer landed a solid punch to the head, which inspired him on to step into the action much more with his Hamer opponent, before the bell rang to end the round.
The Hamer coach praised Kieren for his determination to get back into the contest with his swift and accurate punches.
Then he advised him to step up the action even further, whilst keeping a defensive mind from the punches Weaver would try to land upon him.
But when the bell rang to start the third and last round it was the Leigh boxer who was to show his determination as he landed two successive swinging left-handed punches to the head from his southpaw stance, which instantly inspired the crowd to up the volume within the room.
Kieren then suddenly threw successive punches to the head, as he tried to get back into the action. That in turn prompted Weaver to step in close and force the Hamer boxer into the ropes, where he landed numerous punches to both the body and head.
Tiredness unexpectedly prompted the Leigh boxer to step away from the action, which allowed Kieren to step upon his front foot once again, as he landed more fast punches to the head, before Weaver began to pressure his Hamer opponent once again as he landed solid single punches, whilst Kieren replied with punches of his own.
In the end it was the more experienced boxer who had his arm raised in victory, whilst Kieren gained compliments and praise from numerous boxing coaches within the room and the Hamer coach told him to study the fight and learn from it, which will help him gain success in future contests.