Round-up: Olympian ABC night of amateur boxing

The Olympian ABC presented a night of amateur boxing on February 7th at Grindon Social Club.

The show featured seven great bouts and was an enjoyable night for all present. This was despite the frustration of the Olympian coaches who had originally planned for a 14-fight bill, only for pullouts to half it.

The gym, situated in Ryhope on Leechmere Way, has only being open since 2009 after being bought by promoter Phil Jeffries and his son Tony – who had just returned from the Beijing Olympics.

Since then the club has gone from strength to strength and this show was testament to that.

Ben Wilkinson (pictured in red above awaiting his result) from the Olympian impressed on the night, picking up best junior boxer of the evening in the process.

Wilkinson boxed Pelly Park ABC’s Shaun Quirk and scored a unanimous points decision after a good display. The young boxer is not the quickest but showed real punching power, throwing big hurtful hooks particularly in the second round.

Fight of the evening was the main event as the Olympian’s Jake Bonallie was stopped in the third round by Vinny Atkins (Halifax ABC)

Vinny Atkins

The two went back and forth for two and half rounds with Bonallie landing big hooks and boxing at a relentless pace.

Unfortunately, Jake couldn’t maintain it and in the third tiredness lead to sloppiness and he was caught by an Atkins punch that wobbled him and forced a standing eight count.

The Sunderland boxer was brave when it continued but clearly hadn’t fully recovered and perhaps should have looked to restrict his opponent’s work, rather than go on another relentless attack. He paid the price and when another big Atkins shot knocked him down, the towel was in quickly from the corner.

Regan Cann also impressed on his home club’s bill. He won via a stoppage, one minute and 29 seconds into the second round over Jamesie McDonagh of East Middlesbrough ABC.

Cann started well in the first dominating with a strong jab but rarely backed it up until the second. When he started throwing the backhand after the jab he really troubled McDonagh and after two standing eight counts, the referee waved a halt to proceedings.

Lennox Tyers

Best away boxer of the night was Lennox Tyers from Mickey’s Boxing Academy who got a majority decision over Callum Coates from the Olympian.

Coates had a clear height advantage that he used well in the first but Tyers was brave and walked through punches to get on the inside and land himself. The third was a real barnstormer as both threw a lot and the decision went in Tyers’ favour.

There are high hopes for Alex Dalton from the Olympian and he survived a third round standing eight count to claim a Majority decision over Christopher Godbridge (Halifax ABC) in a very tight contest.

Perth Green’s Jack Taylor picked up a majority decision in the only bout of the night not featuring an Olympian boxer. Taylor out pointed Michael Robinson (Plains Farm) with a majority decision in a scrappy encounter.

The show kicked off with a skills bout between two youngsters as Lewis Gordon lived up to his ‘Flash’ nickname against Lewis Harding from East Middlesbrough.

*Glenn Foot was in attendance just weeks after winning Prizefighter welterweights III. He showed real class when he sat talking with a disappointed Callum Coates after his defeat. Also in attendance was David Dolan who seven days later would unsuccessfully challenge for the British cruiserweight title.