St Marys travel north and win medals in the Hull box cup!

St Marys ABC rounded off their season with the final       competition for juniors by travelling to compete in the Hull Box cup last weekend (June 5th-7th). They entered 6 boxers in this open class junior competition, which saw competitors from all over England, Scotland and Ireland. The first day saw 42 kg boxer Mitchell Tindall up against a schooled opponent, but ran him close and only lost out on a split decision. In his semi final, 14 year old Hayden Sanders was up against another northern opponent from Bishop Aukland ABC. Sanders used combination punches to outscore his county Durham based opponent for a unanimous points win. Next up on saturday in the semi final saw 13 year old Dion Eede against an R. Fyer (Tigers ABC Bradford) in the 46kg weight class. Eede used his height and reach advantages to spear his opponent with combinations and also scored well to the body. Eede had his opponent trapped in the corner several times and it was suprising that the referee didn't give his opponent any standing counts. However, the game Yorkshire boxer came roaring back at Eede in the final round as he knew he was well behind, but Eede stood firm to book his place in final by unanimous decision. National Junior cadet champion Karol Iteuma weighed in on Friday, only to find his scheduled opponent failed to show up for the weigh in, so won the 75kg weight class by walkover. Iteuma was frustrated not to have boxed, but it seems his reputation is proceeding the undefeated Chatham based 14 year old and opponents don't seem keen to face him. Finals day on Sunday saw 4 St Marys boxers in action, looking to add to Iteumas Gold medal. 3 of the 4 were up against reigning national champions, which meant they would have their work cut out. First up for the saints was 13 year old Jacey Birch in a straight final against newly crowed national schoolgirl champion Jessica Pattinson (Alnwick, Northumberland). Gillingham based Birch was also giving weight away, but took the bout to her southpaw opponent from the first bell, scoring with several clear jabs. As the bout went on Pattinson had her successes, but Birch began bringing her right hand into to play and scored with enough of this to win the Gold medal and her biggest scalp to date. Next up in the final was Lordswood based Eede against C. Mc lavghlan (Northern Ireland). Having seen his strong Irish opponent win his semi final by first round stoppage the day before, Eede clearly had to beware of his right hand punch. The game plan set out by his coaches was to circle the ring to his own right, which would make it harder for his Irish opponent to land his power punches and then counder with his own. This worked well in a close first round and Eede even pushed Mc lavghlan back at times. However, Eede let his left hand come down at times in the second round and the classy Mc lavghlan sensed the opponing and landed with a heavy right hand that brought a standing count. As the Irishman went in for the finish, many 13 year olds would have folded, Dion was fighting back at the bell. Eede needed a big 3rd round to have any chance of victory and stormed forward and clearly hurt his opponent, who noticably got disheartned. The strong Irish boxer then got his second wind and the end of the bout saaw the crowd on their feed as both boxers took turns to land combination punches. In the end, Eede lost on points in what was his his 10th bout; but it was later discovered that he had just fought what turned out to be all Ireland schoolboy champion, with 17 wins from 21 bouts, so there was no discrace there. He showed his coaches that he had a champions heart to come back into the contest after the standing count and with more experience he can hopefully go one better than his silver medal. Next in the final was 14 year old Hayden Sanders in the 46kg category against Q.Malony (Chadwell, Essex). Sanders tried to box his opponent but his awkward opponent spoiled alot and there were many clinches. Sanders was the more positive boxer and when he was able to pick some straight combinations in the last round, it looked like he had sealed victory, only for him to find himself on the wrong end of a controversial split decision, so had to settle for silver. Last in the final for the saints was 14 year old Robert Caswell, who was up against reining National junior cadet champion K. Mason (Kingsheath, Northampton) in the 36kg category. From the start, Caswell followed instructions of using his jab and scored with those and picked some great left hand counters in the first round. Mason came back into things a bit in 2nd round as he tried to draw Caswell into a close quaters battle. Going into the final round, Caswell needed to kep his jab going and knocked Masons head back with several single and double jabs and was thrilled to recieve a split decision victory against the number one in England. 3 Golds and 2 silver medals from 6 entrants was a good return for St Marys and the boxers thourougly enjoyed it and will have beniffited from the experience gained boxing elite boxers.