Scottish Amateur And Professional Boxing
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The Bowhill Ex-Servicemen's Club was filled to capacity on Sunday for the second set of Scottish Amateur Boxing Championship Semi-Finals and Junior Finals.
The boxers who stood out on the day were Eammon Goodbrand of The Barn ABC, James Ancliffe of Granite City ABC, Mitch Prince of Broadwood ABC, and the two finalists in the 1988 born Youths Welterweight Final, Jason Irvine of Newarthill ABC and Matthew Davidson of Lochside ABC in Forres.
Eammon Goodbrand went into his 64kg 1998 Juniors Final a big favourite against Isaac Mullen of Springside. Round one saw Goodbrand taking the centre of the ring, rocking Mullen with a barrage of hurtful looking head shots and forcing the referee to administer a standing eight count.
Round two followed suit, again with Goodbrand out-reaching his smaller opponent and landing far more cleaner and heavier shots. Mullen came back strongly in rounds three and four however, taking the fight to Goodbrand and backing him up against the ropes, but few of his punhes landed through the Barn boxer's tight defence.
At the final bell, most would have agreed that Goodbrand had won the fight, although the score wasn't expected to be as wide as the 23-3 verdict given as Mullen looked to be doing well in the final two rounds.
Still, Eammon Goodbrand was the worthy winner and goes on to claim his second Scottish title in consecutive years.
The fight which followed was an action packed slug-fest between Newarthill's Jason Irvine and Matthew Davidson in the 1988 born Welterweight final. Both boxers going at it hammer and tongs from the first bell to the last, neither willing to give an inch.
It was a tough fight to score with both lads sometimes smothering their work whilst trying to press forward and pressurise their opponent. The fight looked in the balance at the end, with no apparent clear winner, though the scoring reflected differently on this, awarding new Scottish champion Davidson of Lochside ABC the verdict by 24-14.
Next up was Aberdeen's James Ancliffe up against the highly touted David Savage of Drumchapel's Argo ABC.
The first round swung one way then the other, with both of these talented young fighters looking to gain the upper hand and both displaying crisp sharp punching and lightning fast hands.
Round two however saw Ancliffe step up a gear and start to produce the cleaner scoring punches to put Savage on the back foot and pull away into the lead.
The Aberdeen boxer maintained the tempo in round three and really got on top of his opponent. Savage gave his all and tried to fire back, but Ancliffe was landing some pretty big shots and there was no arguments when the referee called it off, Savage brave but out-gunned by Ancliffe who is looking to add to his Scottish title he won last year.
Gary McArthur was an interested spectator in the Lightweight Semi-Final between John Watson (Barn) and Mitch Prince (Broadwood), with the winner to meet him in Friday's final in Coatbridge.
This looked to be a very close fight, following Prince's recent success in European tournaments and Watson's one sided win over Commonwealth Junior silver medalist, David Appleby.
The outcome however was a far cry from the close contest everyone had expected. Mitch Prince was out to cement his place on the plane to Melbourne's Commonwealth Games next year and he didn't waste time in doing so, taking the fight to Watson from the off and looking by far the stronger of the two.
Prince dominated the opening round using the ring well and picking Watson off as he looked to put pressure on the Broadwood boxer. Round two was exactly the same, with Watson unable to get into the rhythm of the fight and looking a shadow of the boxer who beat Appleby.
Prince gradually moved through the gears and by the end of the second it was looking like mission impossible for Watson who was falling well behind on points.
Approximately 30 seconds into round three, the judges whistle blew, indicating that Prince had racked up a 20 point lead and that the fight was stopped on the outclassed rule.
It must've left McArthur with a thing or two to think about ahead of Friday night, with Mitch Prince a worthy winner and looking immensely strong and pretty much unstoppable on this showing.
Neither of the 69kg Semi's took place with Fundo Mhura and Alex Montgomery both withdrawing, leaving Willie Bilan of Denbeath to face former world kick-boxing champion Kris Carslaw of Paisley in Friday night's final.
There was also a big bonus for some Newarthill boxers who went for a stroll during Sunday's event. World Featherweight Champion, Scott Harrison, was driving by, and spotting the club tracksuits, he stopped to chat and offer his encouragement to the lads.
By George McLellan at ringside