Commonwealth Boxing Championships review by Tom Walker Aug 21st 2005

In a special feature for BBN, Scottish correspondent Tom Walker reports on the Commonwealth boxing championships from Glasgow, which may well feature boxers who could be appearing on BBN and be the future of British Boxing in a few years time. Competitors from some 15 Commonwealth nations participated in the 4th Federation Championships held in Glasgow between the 15th and the 20th August. The venue was the ubiquitous “Kelvin Hall”, scene of Jim Watts world title win in the 80's. This tournament is ideally suited to gauge the preparedness of the amateur boxers for the full Commonwealth Games in Melbourne next year. Initially it had been scheduled for India. However, this was changed to Scotland, with the Indians asking to be excused from running the tournament and the Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland stepping in at short notice. Monday and the opening ceremony complete with Bagpipes heralded the start of the tournament. The opening session of boxing was up to the mark as anticipated. Without a shadow of doubt the bout of this session was between two Celtic boxers. Mitch Prince (having stepped up a weight) out pointed his very game Welsh opponent Jamie Crees 26-15 in what was an all action bout from start to finish. Nathan Brough of England was just too classy for his Bahamian opponent with a much more one sided win of 22-4. Mark Robertson of New Zealand was on the wrong side of a 19-18 contest against Goodman Zanempi of South Africa, while southpaw Darren Edwards from Wales had no real answer to his Indian Navy opponent Andresh Lakra and duly lost on points. Edward Finney of Scotland had a bit of bad luck in drawing Bongani Mwalase of South Africa out of the hat as this man is a special talent, his style and heavy hands provided too stiff a test for Edward, in this he won't be alone in the 69kg group. Tuesday's session saw more of the UK boxers in action. First up was Paddy Barnes from Northern Ireland against Michael Rantsho of Botswano, this was a pretty scrappy bout and Barnes will have to sharpen up if he is to progress, despite this Paddy won by 14-7. Mohamed Nasir of Wales also at 48 kegs had a very hard working opponent in Wandisile Frans of South Africa but Mohamed's accuracy saw him through 14-10. Both of these boys will have to be on top form if and when they come up against Rajender Balbir of India as his bout in the 48kg class against Smanga Shiba of Swaziland was, for me at any rate, the bout of the night and he came out a 24-15 winner in this all action clash. Stewart Langley of England surprisingly crashed out to an Indian, Arun Singh, I suspect Stewart will want to forget this bout as he looked a shadow of the boxer we all know. A classy counter puncher from South Africa, Jackson Chauke, had Matthew Edmonds of Wales chasing him almost throughout the bout. Matthew lost this one 15-7. For the final bout of the night we had New Zealander Justin (Harry) Potter in at 75kgs against James Degale of England. Potter's preparation wasn't the best since his gum-shield was still in transit with most of the rest of the Kiwi's baggage. Nonetheless, he really wasn't at the races with Degale, as the tall Englishman was always in command. Degale was shaken but not by his opponent in round 3 as the referee brought the doctor up to inspect a small cut on his nose. The accent of the doctor must have confused James who thought he was going to be stopped by the doctor, however he was cleared to continue, which he duly did with gusto. Wednesday had two sessions to maintain the schedule, with one in the afternoon and the 2nd at night. First up for the home nations was at 91kgs with Steven Simmons up against Sean Santana of South Africa. While it lasted this was a bruising encounter, however, the doctor intervened in the 2nd round as Santana had sustained what was thought to be a broken nose and Simmons was duly declared winner with an RSC, much to the delight of his support. In the next bout, also at 91kgs, Cathal McMonagle of Northern Ireland ran out a comfortable winner, but the score was to say the least flattering. Lance Bryant of New Zealand being worth more than the 24-10 suggested at the end. David Dolan of England appeared to be less than his normal self in the next bout, but it was still enough to better his Indian opponent by a 10-6 margin. James Ancliffe of Scotland featured in bout number 26, but his opponent from Mauritius, Richarno Colin was still feeling the effects of his hard fought earlier victory and withdrew, leaving Ancliffe with a walk-over. The final bout of the afternoon session featured Stephen Smith of England up against Meherullah Lassi of Pakistan. Smith is a very stylish boxer who wasted very little in the way of shots, and was deserving of his 15-5 win. Jason Hastie of Scotland was first up in the evening session against Thokozani Masuki of Swaziland, Hastie had the upper hand in the first two rounds but was warned in the 4th for holding, which could have cost him dearly. However, he managed to stay the course and get home with a 12-9 points decision. His namesake Mark Hastie started slowly with a very picky referee whose interruptions broke the flow (such as there was) in his bout with Asghar Ali Shah of Pakistan. This was a pretty scrappy affair but Mark did enough to justify the 16-10 decision. He will have to be better when he meets the winner of the next bout Som Bahadur Pum of India, whose counter punching was crisp and accurate as he defeated Dermot Hamill of Northern Ireland in the second of the 64kg quarter-finals. The “Auld Enemies” of England and Scotland clashed in what was to be the bout of the series to date. The stylish Nathan Brough and the ever aggressive Mitch Prince created an atmosphere of their own with their bout at 64kgs. Prince's undiluted aggression unsettled the classy Brough, so much so that Brough had two public warnings, one for holding in the 2nd and another for slapping in the 3rd, despite this Brough always looked menacing with his counters. This bout was an absolute cracker with the pendulum swinging for both boxers. In the end though with the scores tied and amazingly enough, the “count back” likewise even, it came down to the judges to press for either red or blue. This resulted in a 3-2 for the red corner (Nathan Brough), but Mitch Prince can take much from this result and not the least being such a close decision with one of the best boxers in the UK at a weight higher than he normally operates at. Kris Carslaw (Scotland) and Thomas (TJ) Hamill (Northern Ireland) were next on the menu, providing another cracking bout which the public were much appreciative of. TJ Hamill only comes with forward gears, no reverse here. However, Kris Carslaw seemed impervious to the onslaught, picking his shots to good effect. An absorbing contest throughout, the closeness of the score said it all with Kris running out a 21-20 winner. Disappointing for TJ, but on balance about right. The real beneficiaries were the audience who had two cracking bouts in succession. Thursday was the rest day for competitors, but not all of them took advantage with South Africa having some further training as if to emphasise their team will to win. The big surprise for me was meeting a somewhat dejected Nathan Brough at the reception as he prepared to leave the tournament despite his victory in the battle that was Scotland and England the previous night. This victory has come at a high cost to this young man as it appears that his wrist may be fractured. The fact that he has had trouble with his hands in the past, allied to the efforts against Mitch Prince the previous evening have taken their toll and the competition will be the poorer for his departure. A view I suspect not shared by the Botswana team manager, as it means Herbert Nkabiti will have a walk-over in the semi-finals. Friday the 19th had two televised sessions for the semi-finals. The afternoon session started with an all British bout between Paddy Barnes of Northern Ireland and Mohamed Nasir of Wales. This was a cracking little bout, but in terms of scoring Nasir was the more accurate and deservedly won 13-10. Carl Frampton of Northern Ireland was up with an Indian counter puncher Arun Singh, with a longer reach and Carl allways going forward in a straight line with no deviation he was going to get caught and did so. The score of 32-7 is a travesty though since the gap was never that wide. At 54kgs James Ancliffe was in with a very confident and relaxed Bongani Mahlungu of South Africa, Mahlangu calmly switch hit and utilised his heavy handed straight lefts to good effect. Ancliffe started to lunge and was being picked off with relative ease by his opponent, and was duly stopped under the RSCO rule in round 3. Stephen Smith of England threw terrific combinations, as did his opponent from Sri Lanka, Kamal Sameera. These two lively boxers provided an all action bout, but latterly Sameera was being picked off by the stylish Smith, who ran out a 14-6 winner. Jason Hastie of Scotland had the very strong and hard hitting Andresh Lakra to contend with in the 57kgs category, round 1 being very cat and mouse. Lakra upped the pace and gave Hastie a standing count in round 2, this was followed by another in round 3 and a final one in the last round. Nonetheless Hastie held on to the final bell when he went down 17-5. Frankie Gavin of England's southpaw stance gave him control over Jal Bhagwan of India, and despite having reach and height advantage over Gavin, Bhagwan ended up making wild looping shots of the non-scoring variety. The mercurial Gavin was an easy winner 19-3. The evening session started promptly at 7pm with local boy Mark Hastie meeting Som Bahadur Pum of India. The scrappy opener left neither boxer dominant, and this featured throughout most of the bout, Hastie was 4 shots down going into the last and ended up chasing his taller opponent to no avail, eventually being out-scored by 14-7. Kris Carslaw at 69kgs and Nahruh Vijender of India (who was taller and with a reach advantage) spent the first round or so seeking out each others weaknesses. By round 3 Carslaw was using his right hand more effectively and at the end of that salvo they were even. The Indian pulled away in the 4th ending up with a flattering score of 23-15, which was a mystery to me. Eamon O'Kane did enough to take the opening round in his bout with Parvinder Singh of India. For some reason some ill-feeling crept into the bout and this ended with Singh getting not only a warning but a standing count, this took the bout to a level of scrappiness which would not have pleased O' Kane. In the end though he was fairly comfortable at 17-6. Craig McEwan and James Degale provided another Scotland and England clash at 75kgs. This should have been a real highlight to the show, but Craig's normally elusive style is all very well if you throw punches whilst avoiding the returns. The shots that were in evidence were the ones coming back from Degale. He continued to dominate, whilst McEwan seemed to be wading through treacle, and failing to through the combinations which are his trademark. Being 7 shots down at the end of the 3rd round meant “Mission Impossible” for Craig and it proved to be accurate. The final score being 17-11 to Degale. At 81kgs Tony Jeffries of England was opposed by Tshepang Mohale of South Africa, the dread-locked Mohale strolled out almost languidly then burst into action. This slow then frenetic method did not faze Jeffries in the slightest, as he stuck to his game plan. If Tshepang's plan was to lull Tony into working like himself it failed miserably, since Jeffries scored regularly and at will. The standing count in round 4 was just a precursor to the South Africans retiring their man to save him. Steven Simmons from Scotland was the first of the 3 Brits in the semi-finals of the 91kgs. His opponent Anderson Emmanuel of Barbados obviously hadn't felt anything quite so hurtful as Simmons piston like jab, this particular weapon was used by Steve to good effect and resulted in standing counts in both rounds 1 and 2. The heart must have gone out of Emmanuel with the effects as he retired before the start of round 3. The final bout of the night saw David Dolan of England and Cathal McMonagle of Northern Ireland slug it out for the right to meet Simmons in the final of this category. Dolan seemed out of sorts by his standards, and those which we've come to expect of the big man. So much so that on two occasions he hit McMonagle with a cluster of 3 shots to the back of the head with no form of redress from the referee from India. This was a precursor to the rest of a fairly scrappy bout which failed to live up to expectations. In the end the score of 20-7 is more than Dolan could have expected. Saturday the 20th and it's the finals day, with Mohammed Nasir of Wales in the 48kg class against the very hard hitting Balbir Singh of India. Singh took the driving seat in the first with his southpaw stance and low guard, though it has to be said that some of his shots were round the side and non-scoring. He tried the same tactics during the second round but Mohammed was getting his measure and scoring correctly. The third saw Mohammed Nasir's lateral movement paying dividends as he was scoring and frustrating Singh at the same time, a flurry of 3 shots drawing appreciative applause from the capacity audience. The final round was a mirror of the third and in the end Nasir ran out a comfortable winner by 25-12, a score with which the Cuban coach of India probably would disagree, but from ringside his tactics were spot on. Gold for Wales. Stephen Smith of England in the 57kgs class was up against Andresh Lakra of India. A cautious opening by both boxers was indicative of the mutual respect for the others ability. Lakra did though deliver 2 excellent body shots with blurring hand speed. Stephen is no slouch though and he took the fight to the Indian in round 2, at the end of the round there was a little almost imperceptible nod from each of the boxers to their respective opponents acknowledging the quality of boxing on show. The nip and tuck went on throughout this bout and an absorbing contest it was. This was a bout for the “cognoscenti” of boxing, There were no complaints from the likeable Smith who accepted the decision with grace. Silver to England. Frankie Gavin of England met Thanduxolo Dyani of South Africa in the 60kg final in the next bout. Southpaw Gavin opened with lightning hand speed scoring with both hands. Dyani is a very brave boxer and came forward into the pain zone. Frankie's most effective weapon was the straight left which allied to his excellent movement was proving totally effective. Dyani sensing the bout was moving out of his reach then started to chase Gavin, which was further undoing his chances as the mercurial Frankie found this to be Grist to the mill, picking Thanduxolo off at will. The final score of 23-6 says it all. Gold for England. Eamonn O'Kane of Northern Ireland and James Degale clashed in the Middleweight final at 75kgs. This eagerly awaited Anglo-Celtic clash opened with O'Kane diving in on the attack, not such a good tactic with someone of Degale's class. It did however, draw appreciative applause from the large and vociferous travelling support for the Ulsterman. Degale used his height and reach advantage over the stockily built O'Kane to good use, and whilst there was all action in this bout throughout, the more decisive scoring was coming from the Englishman, something the panel of 5 judges saw too as they scored it 17-7 for Degale. Gold for England and Silver for Northern Ireland. In the 81kg class Tony Jeffries was scheduled to box Shawn Cox of Barbados, unfortunately for all concerned he was injured pre fight and only got silver on the basis of a walk-over to Cox of Barbados. Silver to England. In the last bout of the championships (the 91+ kg class having been made penultimate) it was the meeting again of the “Auld Enemy” in the form of Stephen Simmons of Scotland and David Dolan of England. This proved to be a good move as it closed the championships with an eagerly awaited clash. Dolan has already taken Simmons scalp with an RSCO (20 point rule), but this time round Simmons showed no such concerns as he took the fight to the taller Dolan. Sunderland's Dolan has a wealth of experience over the much younger Simmons and it showed somewhat in the 2nd as he harried Stephen onto the back foot. Simmons did seem to hurt Dolan in the 3rd, and to my mind put him on the canvas fairly, but the referee deemed it a push. The last round had the crowd on its feet as Simmons went for Dolan with renewed vigour, but noise and clamour aside, the shots are what score so this was in vain. Dolan ran out a 12-8 winner. Stephen Simmons can take a lot out of this though as he gained much experience from the bout and the margin is much reduced from their earlier meeting. Gold to England and Silver to Scotland. The first Minister for Scotland was on hand to award the medals for these two athletes. The whole championships were a joy to be part of, acting as liaison for 3 of the countries New Zealand, Mauritius and Dominica officially and for another 4 countries unofficially Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan and Botswana as well as MC (until the TV people came in) made the whole multi-cultural affair a pleasure. The final closing ceremony and civic reception laid on by Glasgow in the city chambers were very much appreciated by the athletes. The sight and sound of the South Africans singing and dancing their way up the marble stairway to the reception was quite moving, so much so that the Lady Provost asked them for an encore after the formal dinner, needless to say they obliged and to the delight of the 200 or so guests at the banquet. During the 8 days of being in the Murano Village (Glasgow University student accommodation) the boxers and trainers were the model of good behaviour and a credit to all of their countries. There is an old song in Scotland, “Glasgow belongs to me”, well not now, it belongs to the “Commonwealth” Haste ye back guys, hopefully in 2014.

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