Debut boxing show hailed a great night

LITTLEHAMPTON Amateur Boxing Club head coach Steve Bailey called the club’s debut show on Friday a great night.

Several bouts took place at The Littlehampton Academy in front of a healthy crowd and Bognor professional boxer, Liam Griffiths, who often trains with Littlehampton, presented the winners and losers with their trophies.

Bailey said: ‘It was a great night and all the boys did us proud on our first show. We hope to do more, especially as there was a great turnout to cheer the lads on.

“The only downside was that bouts for Aiden Knight, Paul-Lee Cairns and Billy Castle fell through. It was a shame as they had worked hard to get in top shape.”

Nico Stathinakis enjoyed a real Rocky-style performance to grab victory from the jaws of defeat. He was involved in a macho man slugfest against Crawley’s James Verbeethan and showed good heart and a strong chin but neglected his defence in an old-fashioned punch up.

Stathinakis, however, set the crowd alight with a thunderous right hand in the third round which sent his dazed opponent crashing to the canvas. The follow-up assault left the referee with no choice but to end the fight and lead Verbeethan back to his corner.

In a cracking opening bout, Littlehampton junior Denis Hayes won a unanimous decision against Joshua Lacey from Eastleigh.

Next up was Mark White, another local boy, who used the ring well against his well-schooled rival Jake Gilbert from Small Holdings ABC. He put in a good display in the last round but left himself with just a little bit too much to do and lost a close points decision.

George Bailey was Littlehampton’s third boxer on the entertaining card in a bout with Crawley’s John Hearne. Both boxers were well supported and showed a good exhibition of skill, with Hearne winning a tight decision.

The show closed with Littlehampton’s John Jackman beating another Crawley challenger, Charles Clark, before the end of the third.

There were also wins for Bognor’s Jack Spear, Alfie Haven, James Baker and Rhys Goddard.