Latest news with #amateurboxing
Yahoo
04-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Young boxers shine at event which has seen Anthony Joshua win at
FOUR rising stars showcased their skills on one of amateur boxing's biggest stages. The fighters were battling at the Haringey Box Cup, one of Europe's largest amateur boxing tournaments, held at Alexandra Palace in London. Former heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua is a former winner at the prestigious event. In the quarter-finals of the senior 75kg category, Blackbird Leys ABC's Jamal Franklin beat Tommy Naismith with a dominant display, winning by unanimous decision. Teammate Morris James (youth 75kg) received a bye into the semi-finals. READ ALSO: Get unlimited U's coverage from Indonesia in biggest sale of year Johnny Taylor of Banbury took on Scottish national champion Oliver Jackson in the youth 67kg category, but lost on points. His twin, Chris Taylor, was in outstanding form, outworking Nadeem Harabia for a clean 5-0 victory in the youth 63.5kg group. James got into the action against Alex Savga, and using sharp combinations and fast hands in the early rounds, he earned a deserved 4-1 split decision win. Franklin then defeated Joash Oluwatoki, using crisp counters and smooth footwork to edge the bout with a split decision. Chris Taylor faced Zac Kazimi in his semi-final, and despite boxing well, he came up short on the scorecards in a 4-1 split loss. In the final, Franklin met Jenson Burrows. He started strong, landing clean shots and slick counters, while avoiding Burrows' aggressive attacks. Franklin sealed a clear win and a deserved gold medal. James faced Oliver Male, the current Youth Open national champion from Bridlington. He boxed smartly and showed good movement, but the experience of Male showed as James walked away with a silver medal.
Irish Times
29-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Joe Ward has had to take the hits in his quest to reach the summit of boxing
When Joe Ward answers his phone he's in surprisingly good form, all things considered. Just the night before, he got word that the biggest fight of his professional career had been cancelled. Being an optimist is probably no harm for a professional boxer, a sport in which there's no guarantees of progression, or indeed, paycheques. But this seems more like he's just used to it by now, and he's trying to focus on what's in his control. He's been featured on bills all around the world that have fallen through. Shows in New York, Montreal, Boston, Dublin and now Galway have all collapsed and left the Westmeath man in the lurch. 'We got tickets in our hands, and we always get a lot of family, friends and supporters who buy them, and they pre-booked hotels in Galway. So it's a big let-down', he explains. 'It's never easy when a show gets called, because there's the time, effort, and cost of these training camps. It can be very annoying sometimes.' In a sport where Ireland have often overachieved, 'Mighty' Joe Ward was one of Ireland's truly great amateurs, winning three world championship medals. Amateur boxing has been blighted by corruption, but to its credit, it tends to offer fairly linear pathways to success. Professional boxing, on the other hand, is a big game of snakes and ladders, with very few fighters having a simple route to the summit. READ MORE Joe Ward in action against Marco Delgado. Photograph: Tom Hogan/Inpho On top of that, it would be fair to say that Ward has been particularly unlucky when he has rolled the dice. In 2019 he went pro, saying that he felt he needed to 'give it a lash' before it was too late, but his debut ended up being a bizarre and disastrous affair, with the Irishman blowing his knee out. His opponent was awarded a stoppage win, but Ward was more worried about the long-term future. 'You go pro and you get an opportunity to fight in Madison Square Garden on your debut. You want everything to go right for you, you want to be that person that really stands out. I don't know; that's boxing. It was just the freakiest thing. At that time it was just like 'my god, is this the end of the road before it really starts? Is this what it was all leading up to?'' After recovering ahead of schedule, Ward was supposed to return in March of 2020, but you can guess how that turned out. The injury, along with the lockdowns caused by Covid, meant that Ward spent the first 14 months of his pro career with a record of zero wins and one loss. He admits that things weren't going to plan at that stage. 'That was definitely another blow, sitting out of boxing with Covid. Everything was really, really slow, time passes and everyday was a battle before it had started. I was nearly two or three years behind, all down to a freak injury and Covid; both out of my control. It's been a very tough few years since I started my pro career.' A losing record couldn't have sat well with Ward after his amateur days. After all, Ward has never lost a fight on Irish soil. That streak is particularly impressive considering he fought 2008 Olympic medallist Kenneth Egan in multiple national finals. He was only 17 in the first of those fights in 2010 – a time when amateur boxing brought a major buzz in Dublin. Joe Ward celebrates after beating Dmytro Fedas. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho 'Coming up against the likes of Kenneth Egan, a lot of people didn't really give me much of a chance because I was 17. I don't believe that the National Stadium was ever like that before, and it will take a long time before it's like that again. It was absolutely rocking. There wasn't a seat to sit down on, and looking back at it now they were amazing nights for Irish boxing.' There's been thousands of gruelling hours of training, but Ward's natural talent was clear from the minute he first stepped into his local gym in Moate, Westmeath. That was when he was only six years old; too young to join at the time, he says. Eventually though, his amateur coach Seamus Dorrington got sick of the kid haunting the front door to peek into the gym, and let him lace up some gloves. 'I was always turning up at the door and looking in. Eventually Seamus came up to me and said, 'come in and don't be messing around and hit the bag'. He wasn't paying much attention to me, then he looked over and took a bit of notice, and he said to my uncle 'that young lad is gonna be very special, just look at his footwork. Will you bring him back on Wednesday?'' It's a fitting origin story for Ward, given what he went on to accomplish, but it's the ending that's more of a concern now. Six years into his pro career, with 12 victories behind him, Ward still hasn't been able to climb the rankings. His opponent for the fight in Galway seemed to be the perfect step up: former British and European champion, Lerrone Richards. That was until Richards pulled out and the bill was relocated to Hull, where no opponent could be found for Ward. 'It's just about getting that one breakthrough fight and I felt like that was going to happen against Lerrone Richards. The fighters who are higher ranked than me know what I have achieved. I believe now that at the age of 31 that I'm better than I ever was, so they won't give me the opportunity unless I'm backed by the big guys.' There's a very limited number of 'big guys' out there, but Ward will need one of the major promoters on board, otherwise his ability inside the squared circle could go to waste. Now 31, there's only a certain amount of time left for him to reach the top of the mountain, and right now, the important question is not really whether he can do it. It's whether he'll get the chance to.
The Sun
11-06-2025
- Sport
- The Sun
Amateur star dubbed ‘next Katie Taylor' had text ignored by Eddie Hearn before one sparring sessions changed it all
AMATEUR boxing sensation Tiah Ayton had her message to Eddie Hearn IGNORED - until one sparring session changed everything. Ayton - still just 18 years old - was a standout amateur winning ALL of her bouts as a four-time national champion. 3 3 3 She had an outstanding 21-0 record in the unpaid ranks and over 300 bouts altogether in kickboxing and Muay Thai too. But she had her heart set on the pros - even turning down a Team GB contract - to follow in the footsteps of boxing great Katie Taylor. And like 2012 Olympic champion Taylor - Ayton reached out personally to get herself of Hearn's radar - but to no avail. She told SunSport with a laugh: "I messaged him saying like, 'Hopefully one day you can sign me.' "But he never messaged me back! So hopefully he can message me back now." Despite the aired message, soon Hearn would know who Ayton was. The teenage talent was recruited as a sparring partner by former WBC featherweight champion Skye Nicolson earlier in the year. Watching on at trainer Eddie Lam's iBox Gym in Bromley was Hearn - so impressed by Ayton he cut a deal to sign her there and then. Ayton knew it was going to be no regular sparring session - sensing it was the opportunity of a lifetime. She said: "I had to put my everything into it, like, it wasn't a normal spar. I looked at it as like it was a fight. Terence Crawford starts training camp for huge Canelo Alvarez fight "And it all paid off, so I'm happy with it. He said I was great, he said I looked good, interesting to watch and everything." Ayton is also managed by Brian Peters, who has helped take Taylor to undisputed titles in TWO weight divisions. And Ayton - dubbed "the next Katie Taylor" - has received words of wisdom from the Irish icon herself. Ayton revealed: "I spoke to her on the phone and stuff. She was saying she's excited to watch my debut and everything, she's seen footage of me. "So it's exciting. She's very inspirational for young women to look up to and want to go into boxing." Ayton makes her pro debut on June 21 in Birmingham on Galal Yafai's undercard at super-batamweight.
The Sun
06-06-2025
- Sport
- The Sun
Josh Kelly played against Jordan Pickford but now eyes title fight against ‘freak' champ who's as tall as Anthony Joshua
JOSH KELLY once played alongside Jordan Pickford - now he is targeting world title fights against champions taller than the goalkeeper. Kelly spent two years in Sunderland's academy but was booted out when he struggled to juggle it with boxing. 3 3 But the Black Cats fan admits it was probably for the best having excelled in the ring after giving football the KO. He told The Northern Echo: "I was in the academy from 11 until I was about 13. I was in and out of the academy and development centre. "I remember playing in one training game and Pickford was in goal! I did well. "I think I could have done OK in football but when I was making weight for boxing I didn't really mature as quickly as the other guys, and I made the decision to focus on my boxing. "I was trying to run both next to each other. I played for Hartlepool a little bit. But it's hard to focus on both. "I remember coming off one day and talking to my dad, a lot of the lads were a lot more mature than me, I was weight draining myself for the boxing and trying to diet and I knew I had to do this or that. "When I started boxing for England and going places, that was the natural step." Kelly was a decorated amateur, representing Great Britain at World and European level. He went onto qualify for the 2016 Olympics but was eliminated in the second round by Daniyar Yeleussinov of Kazakhstan. Kelly then turned professional in 2017 and looked to be one of the most promising talents in world boxing, with flashy speed and eye-catching combinations. Josh Kelly vows to KO Conor Benn and slams Chris Eubank Jr in double call out But after drawing to unknown American Ray Robinson in 2019 and losing to David Avanesyan two years later, Kelly's career came into question. He built his way back up slowly, moving up from welterweight to light-middleweight, where he won the British title. But Kelly is eyeing the 154lb big dogs - quite literally - with his eyes on 6ft 6in WBC and WBO champion Sebastian Fundora. He told BoxingScene: 'Tall; awkward; readable; I feel like he's readable; he's a freak as well.' Despite weighing the 11 stone limit, Fundora stands the same height as 18 stone heavyweight Anthony Joshua. He beat Tim Tszyu for the WBO title and the vacant WBC belt. Kelly meanwhile also has Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn in his sights after their second generation grudge match in April. Benn, 28, moved up from welterweight for the fight but was beaten by Eubank, 35, after 12 thrilling rounds. Kelly returns on Friday in Newcastle against 24-1 Romanian Flavius Biea. But he said on his future plans: 'Well, Benn or Eubank or someone like that would be cool. 'So, just big fights – just ones that will get people talking, ones that will get people excited, ones where you get excited.' 3
RNZ News
01-06-2025
- General
- RNZ News
Backyard battles take fighting off street, participant says
Hamilton man Cameron Harcourt (left), with an opponent at the King of the Street event on 24 May. Photo: Supplied A participant in a controversial street fighting competition is defending it, saying amateur tournaments remove violence from the streets. An unregulated tournament promoted by New Zealand mixed martial arts fighter Dan Hooker was held in a suburban Auckland backyard on Saturday 24 May , with 32 combatants competing for a $50,000 prize. Hooker said the only major injury was to a fighter's arm and signalled plans to host further events , despite criticism. New Zealand Boxing Coaches Association president Billy Meehan described the event as "thuggery, not sport", but Hamilton fighter Cameron Harcourt, who travelled up for the event, said the backlash was unfair. "We're going to fight anyway," he said. "There's fights on the streets. "The same way Streetbeefs in America started to get the fights off the streets. If you had beef, you apply for this and you jump in, and it gives us a place to do it in a controlled environment. "The thuggery is taken out and we've turned it into a sport." Streetbeefs is an unregulated American backyard fighting club and You Tube channel, hosting different combat codes. The founders said it was established as a response to more "dangerous forms of street and gun violence". Cameron Harcourt (right) says the Auckland backyard fighting event took violence off the street and put it in a controlled environment. Photo: Supplied Police are investigating one fighter from the Saturday event, who was seen wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet in social media footage of his fight. Harcourt said he wanted to prove that the fights were a fair playing field, and not all about "tattoos and gang affiliations". "Nothing changes what someone is - we're all humans. Doesn't matter about your colour, your size, your age, your background, we're all people and we all bleed. "I think it is a good sport and I love fighting for that." Up to nine different gangs were reportedly represented at the tournament. Fighters had to sign a waiver before taking part, stipulating that involvement was at their discretion. He said, unlike team sports like rugby, he enjoyed how he was the only person accountable, if the fight did not go his way. "You're stuck in a ring with contact and you just feel alive, and it's just sick," he said. "It's also art. "You can create your combos and perform them. It's just a wicked sport." Although billed as an amateur event, it is understood a professional fighter won the tournament. Harcourt hoped to contest a planned tournament in Christchurch later this year. The Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) suggests participants of amateur street fighting events will be covered under the scheme, as it did not require details of how injuries occur. An agency spokesperson said the scheme operated on a no-fault basis. "All New Zealanders pay levies in different ways. The money we collect goes into one of our five accounts. "We use each account to cover specific types of injuries. For example, if someone is injured playing sports, the money used to support their recovery is dependent on their individual circumstances." Last year, the cost of active ACC claims for sport and recreation injuries exceeded $1 billion, while accidental injuries in the home and community, which covered injuries from assaults and also concussion, cost more than $2.3 billion. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
