THE second Kingfisher ABC dinner show of the season took place at the Ocean Room Gorleston in front of guest of honour, Mayor Michael Jeal, Keith Walter the chairman of the ABA and many supporters of Kingfishers who helped with the club’s move to its new home on Riverside Road Gorleston (see back page).

The first bout featured Kingfisher Josh Mace against Cameron Wade of Lowestoft ABC.

The first round saw Mace move forward into long straight lefts and rights before he had chance to land any of his own. From the start of the second Mace upped his pace moving in behind a flurry of punches. However, Wade remained rooted to the centre of the ring, matching Mace punch for punch. The final round had Mace trying to force his way forward but again he meet a wall of straight lefts and rights. He lost to a majority decision.

Toby Oliver of Kingfisher met Ewan Hyland of Stevenage. In a fast and furious first round both boxers exchanged punches freely.

The second round saw Hyland force Oliver back into a corner with a good combination of punches to the head, but the Kingfisher weathered the storm and forced his opponent onto the back foot with several combinations.

In the final round Oliver made a determined effort to dominate and this paid dividends as he scored again with a solid lefts as he moved forward, then followed up with a hard, straight right. The Kingfisher boxer’s effort in the finial round paid off with a unanimous points win.

Kingfisher Henri Potter met Connor Crosby of March ABC in an Eastern Counties Schoolboy semi-final.

Potter adopted a defensive style and then countered with his own combination of punches as Crosby moved in. All three rounds followed a similar pattern with Crosby taking the centre of the ring and pushing forward with good combination work as the taller Potter used the ring well and covered up as his opponent delivered his punches.

The more pro-active Crosby took the bout on points for a place in the next round.

Liam Goddard of Kingfisher ABC was pitted against Wisbech ABC’s Martin Boon.

Goddard’s aggressive south-paw style never fails to get the crowd behind him. Pushing forward from the start Goddard continually closed in on his opponent behind a solid right lead and then followed up with a straight left through the centre of his opponent’s defence.

Goddard didn’t have it all his own way with Boon counter-attacking with a swinging right as Goddard delivered his straight left. However in the final round Goddard piled the pressure on, landing solid shots with no reply. Boon had no chose but to hold on and was warned twice. It was a well-deserved, unanimous win for Goddard.

Kingfisher’s Curtis Williams met Danny Hedges of March. With both boxers previously holding an Eastern Counties title this was a closely-fought contest.

With both boxers working hard to gain the advantage through the bout and neither wanting to give ground, it made for non-stop action. With the bout in the balance both boxers went all out to the finial bell, with Hedges gaining victory by the closest of margins.

Kingfisher Jack Adams was matched against Connor Wosket of Marston in a good performance of counter-attack boxing in only his second contest for his club.

Adams’ ring craft made it very difficult for Wosket to close in and land any telling shots. On the few occasions that Adams did get into trouble his flexibility and footwork quickly got him out of danger.

With Wosket always moving forward Adams scored with some good lightning-fast punches from different angles to gain a unanimous points win.

In the first senior bout, Martin Smith of Kingfisher met Steven Stead of Sedbergh, Bradford.

Smith moved forward behind a solid left jab but Stead, who came in 2kg heavier, blocked many of these shots on his arms and also evaded Smith’s heavier rights by ducking under and then replying with left and right hooks to the head. With Smith always wanting to move forward the Bradford boxer always had to work hard to stay off the ropes.

In the final round Stead’s swinging lefts and rights as Smith came forward just gave him the edge to gain a majority win after a hard-fought bout.

Todd Davidson of Kingfisher met Westley Smith of Stevenage. Davidson came forward trying to impose himself on the more defensively minded Smith. However the taller Smith used his reach advantage well and made Davidson pay as he closed in.

Any chance that Davidson had of scoring inside was stopped quickly by Smith, who held on, for which he was warned in the second round. Davidson never stopped working and this nearly paid off in the final seconds of the third round. With Smith momentarily caught square on, Davidson and delivered a straight right to the head that rocked the Stevenage boxer. But that the bell rang and Smith took the bout by a majority.

Kyle Crux of Kingfisher had his debut bout against Faisal Hussain of Sedbergh. With a large and very vocal support behind him, Crux worked hard as both boxers tried to stamp their authority early. Crux used a strong leading left and Hussain swung in with left and right hooks.

Crux cooped well with a very difficult opponent who switched from orthodox to south paw at will and used fast-swinging hooks to good effect. The Yarmouth boxer kept his shape well and delivered screw shoots and upper cuts to the head of his opponent. However, Hussain took these solid punches well and kept coming forward, but the judges could have failed to see them hit home as Hessian’s head was thrown back – and this ultimately gave Crux victory by a unanimous decision.

Kingfisher ABC’s tenth representative of the night was Hugh Bower in a senior contest against Tony Robb of SMAK. The taller Bower used his reach advantage well in the first round but then in the second tucked in behind his guard and dropped down to the level of his shorter, stockier opponent.

From then on the bout turned into a battle with Bower slugging it out with Robb for the remaining two rounds. Despite giving away his advantage, Bower still took the bout by a majority decision.

Ryan Halil of Kingfisher met Danny Adams of Sedburgh who came forward unleashing a barrage of punches that looked likely to overwhelm Halil at the start of the first.

The Kingfisher boxer took some shots well and blocked and moved from the others and slowly clawed his way back into the bout. The second round ended fairly even. In the third Halil started to use his reach, and as Adams tired the Kingfisher boxer started to score by beating Adams to the jab. Also clever use of a lay-back followed by a straight right hand to the head tipped the balance in his favour to gain a majority win.

Penultimate bout in a packed evening of boxing matched Hathen Laamouse of Kingfisher, in his first bout for the club, against Danny May of Norwich Diamonds. Two evenly-matched boxers gave a good display – May using his experience to cover up and move out of danger while the taller Laamouse used his reach to good effect. The bout ended with a win for Laamouse and bout of the night award going to both boxers.

The final bout of the night featured Caine Brunning of Kingfisher against Tom Knight of Hull Fish Trades ABC.

This was always going to be a close bout with both boxers having a similar counter-boxing style and exactly the same height and weight.

Brunning used all of his experience and in the majority of exchanges came away having landed the last punch. The England representative fully played his part in the bout and pushed the Kingfisher boxer to the final bell. A good show of skilful boxing from both boxers and a good win for Brunning and Kingfishers to end the night.