2018 School boy champs

St Marys had two boxers bidding for the coverted Golden Gloves in National schools championship finals in Grantham on Sat May 26th. 

First up was 12 year old Tyrone Clarke vs Troy Richmond (Sandygate BC, Lancashire) in the Class A under 54kg category. Richmond was slightly taller than the Chatham based Clarke and came out aggressively, which led to some furious exchanges early on in the first round. However, the slick Clarke then started timing Richmonds attacks and began stepping back and landing powerful counter punches. Once these started to slow Richmonds attacks, Clarke began to bring in hurtful uppercuts and body shots as well as straight left hands through the middle, which soon caused nose damage. With Clarke now in clear control and his opponents nose now bleeding freely, the refereeing asked the doctor to inspect his nose and he was allowed to carry on. However, Clarke was now landing at will and with Richmonds nose possibly broken, he waved off the bout just before the end of the 1st Round. This added the National schoolboy title to the Minors title Clarke won last season and improves his record to a perfect 8-0. Clarkes coaches were thrilled as he followed the game plan to a tee and looked devastating in the process, for his 3rd stoppage win in his last 4 bouts.  

Jesse Harris was next up against Ethan Moore from Downend boxing club Bristol in the Class A under 68 kg category. Both boxers started the first round with a high work rate landing some heavy shots, Jess’s resilience was tested as Moore landed some heavy rear hands from his southpaw stance, Jess absorbed the shots well and return with some clean counter punches. In the second Jess started to take control of the contest, he found his range and started to push Moore towards the ropes which earned him the second round. The third round was again boxed at a high pace but the Downend boxer started to show signs of tiredness at the halfway point, Jess continued to work hard to the final bell which secured the round and the win by unanimous decision.

As champions,both boxers will now go straight onto the England squad, as the coaches took their details. St Marys coaches were very happy as the hard work the boys had put in during their 8 week training camp, paid off and they performed well on the big stage. 

We were really pleased with his performance especially as he has very little ring experience, to perform that well in a high pressure environment was fantastic achievement. The level of commitment to his training leading up to the championships was outstanding, it was a very well earned national Schoolboy Title