West Kingsdown Boxing Club’s George Welsh’s excellent championship run came to an end in Grantham with a narrow points defeat to Pep Lyons (Ardwick Lads) in the National Schools finals.
Welsh, with only five bouts behind him, faced the vastly more experienced Lyons and performed admirably once again. Welsh’s strong aggressive style had seen off three boxers on his way to the finals however the judges preferred Lyons clever backfoot boxing on this occasion.
Head coach Mickey Bowden was full of praise for Welsh saying: “We would have been happy with a Southern Counties title when we first entered George, for him to get all the way to the finals in his 1st season is a great feat and he wasn’t far off from winning it. He’s proved he belongs at this level and with a bit more experience he can go all the way next time, everyone at the club is very proud of him!”
On the previous night West Kingsdown had two out of three winners on the Prince of Wales show in Canterbury. John Friend lost a tight decision, whilst Zak Rodgers and Simon Briggs both impressed securing 2nd round stoppage wins.
Lord Lonsdale Box Cup
The club also travelled up to Cumbria for their final competition of the season in the Lord Lonsdale Box Cup.
Xavier Claudel and Harvey Martin became the tournament’s 1st ever winners in the under 60kg and under 75kg respectively. They won three bouts in three days to do so.
Tommy Hill just missed out on a split decision in the final.
