Junior Christy McCarthy, boxed a controlled aggressive contest to overcome Southend’s Albie Scopes. McCarthy went after his opponent, forcing Scopes on the back foot and then scoring with hard body shots. McCarthy eventually won via unanimous decision.

Safi Abdullah (Islington) won a majority decision against Rifat Hussein (Eltham & District). The contest was finely balanced. Abdullah, landed the harder shots, while Hussein’s work-rate was higher.

Islington’s Faizullah Uriakhail and Redbridge’s Humza Abbas, suffered the ignominy of a ‘double’ disqualification in the opening round of their contest. The referee finally lost patience with both boxers after warning them consistently for dangerous headwork.

Islington’s Junior captain Ben Turner, won a rousing contest, turning back the challenge of reigning National School’s champion Ryan Adair (Cambridge Police). Turner was the aggressor throughout, landing with heavy handed shots to head and body. Adair came back strongly in the last, but lost out to Turner by a unanimous decision.*

In an entertaining female contest, Denmark’s Julianne Hayden (BK Varde), and ‘guesting’ for Islington, did well in her 4 x 2’s contest, losing a unanimous points decision to Gorton ABC’s classy Laura Kelly. Kelly had Hayden on the floor in the third round after a straight right hand landed flush.

In another female contest, Islington’s unbeaten Cherrelle Brown, took a unanimous decision over Waltham Forest’s Deayndra Allen. Brown controlled the centre of the ring, and having success with moving Allen onto the back foot. Allen, landed some nice counters, but Brown had the edge.

Islington’s improving welterweight Jeff Ofori, beat Times ABC’s Lee Devine in what was an enjoyable 3×2’s contest. Ofori’s fast hand speed made the difference. The third saw Ofori almost force a standing count as Devine covered up on the ropes, trying his best to weather the storm.

Super heavyweight Christian Nwofor, secured his maiden win in boxing & the ‘best boxer of the night’ trophy, after walking down Lewsey ABC’s Craig Smith. Nwofor, boxed patiently in every round, stalking his man before landing in flurries.

In the headline bout, Islington and Jamaican International Reece Shagourie, lost a hotly disputed majority decision against Basingstoke’s awkward Bryce Goodridge. Southpaw Shagourie made all the running, landing punches over Goodridge’s long jab. Unfortunately Shagourie thinking the bout was safe, took his foot off the pedal in the last, allowing his opponent to rally late on.

Also on the same bill, Times ABC’s Alfie Andrews lost a tight majority decision to Bracknell’s Clay Elmes.

*Our Junior Club Captain Ben Turner,  nearly pulled out of his fight (which he won against a current National Schoolboy Champion) at the very last minute when he found out that his Mum who was in the crowd had an allergic reaction and collapsed inside the stadium and was awaiting an ambulance to arrive. Obviously Ben and the rest of his family were very concerned and worried for his Mum’s welfare but Ben himself decided after a one-2-one talk with his coach Paul Hammick that ’the show must go on’ and still compete in this contest. It is to Ben’s credit that he put up such a good performance in the circumstances and unsurprisingly after the fight quickly went to see how his Mum was. Thankfully after some checks and medical attention at Whittington Hospital Mrs Turner was released and has made a full recovery.

• Basingstoke
• Southend
• Cambridge Police
• BBK Varde (Denmark)
• Gorten (Manchester)
• Times (Islington)
• Redbridge (NE London)
• Lewsey (Luton)
• Bracknell
• Waltham Forest

The club produced a fantastic 48-page A4 commemorative programme, probably the best programme we have had so far and possibly the best ever seen at an amateur boxing event and I’m confident that in future they will keep improving from each show we host.

The show/programme was kindly sponsored by the following people & companies

• Mama Gee’s
• Box Fit
• Punch 1 Boxing
• London Car Boot
• Foreign Payments
• Dave Barron (also kindly made a donation to the club)
• Robinson Crusoe Sports Bar
• The George Pub
• O’Keeffe’s
• She Wore A Yellow Ribbon
• Garbanzo
• Ubiquitous Taxi’s
• Whites Gentleman Club
• Wembley Scaffolding
• Simply Aesthtics
• Platinum Lace

We will be adding a new page to the website very soon on which will feature all the above advertisers with links to their website and details of the relevant companies. These posts will last for 6 months from the original advertisement placed in the clubs programme. A great investment for any company seeing as we get 1000′s of hits on our website and a great way to advertise. Why not get in touch with the club to discuss potential advertising/sponsorship opportunities that we offer and contribute to a great charity at the same time?

Islington Boxing club’s junior club captain Ben Turner (63.5kg, born 1997), fought his way to the London Junior ABA finals on Sunday, winning by unanimous decision in semi final contest held at the home of Earlsfield ABC.

Ben’s opponent was Keenan Morrison from South Norwood & Victory BC. Morrison came out fast in the early stages of the 1st round trying to seize the initiative from Turner. Turner stuck to the instructions given to him by coach John Emberson, and boxed behind good long range punches. Soon Turner was picking his opponent off with ease.

Turner himself started the second much faster and dominated the session, giving Morrison a standing eight count. The final round saw Turner consolidate his overall advantage and cruised home.

Turner is joined in Sunday’s London Finals by club mates Tyrone Negasi (50kg, born 1997) and Patrick McDonagh (50kg, born 1996).

Report by Bevis Allen

Islington’s Junior Michael McDonagh ended up on the wrong side of a unanimous points verdict, in a bout he appeared to dominate for large periods against West Ham’s Tony O’Driscoll. McDonagh, threw the more eye catching punches throughout, but O’Driscoll kept working steadily away. The last round saw some fierce exchanges take place. McDonagh’s more accurate scoring looked to have been enough, but all three judges gave the nod to O’Driscoll.

Two of the best Light-Middleweights in the country in Islington’s Aarron Morgan and Broad Street’s Karol Ozimkowski, served up a treat in a pulsating contest over 3×3’s. Sharp counterpunching from Morgan in the opening round put him in control. The second started with Ozimkowski showing more aggression as he back Morgan in a neutral corner. Morgan tucked up and weathered the storm coming back with two big right hands, stunning Ozimkowski in the process. Ozimkowski, raised the bar again in the last, scoring with some eye catching punches to the body. Morgan rallied again with two hooks to the body, but Ozimkoswki kept working away to the final bell. The judges could not have scored it any closer, but Ozimkowski got the verdict by virtue of the tiniest of margins.

Report by Bevis Allen

Islington and Jamaican International Reece Shagourie was in action on an Earlsfield ABC open show held at their club gym on Saturday 20th April 2013 against the very experienced middleweight from the hosts, Robert Garvery. Shagourie and Garvery have had over 180 bouts between them.

Shagourie’s movement and combinations were too sharp for Garvery in this open class Middleweight (75kg) contest, Shagoruie won via a UD points verdict in front of a good supported Earlsfield crowd.

Report by John ‘JR’ Richards

Two Islington boxers were in action on the prestigious London v Army show, held at the Fairfield Halls in Croydon.

Islington’s Light-Welterweight James Woodward, was up against former 3-time National ABA champion Martin Stead. Woodward took the opener, as he stamped his authority, using a crisp jab to back up Stead and then worked the Army man’s body with left and right hooks. Stead, trying to draw Woodward in, was not having much success, although he got through with a nice left hook to Woodward’s body, but Woodward came straight back with a four punch combination.

The second round started in much the same fashion, with Woodward marching forward, with hands held high, and Stead retreating to the ropes. A long uppercut from Stead caught Woodward flush on the nose. The action was allowed to continue momentarily, before blood started flowing from the nose of Woodward. The referee correctly called a halt while the doctor came and inspected the damage. After a fair while, the injury was deemed serious enough for the bout to be stopped. The official verdict was a 2^nd round stoppage on cuts.

In the contest awarded ‘Best Bout of the Night’ , Islington ABC Light-Middleweight, Enrico Mullings, finished on the wrong end of a controversial majority decision, going down to the Army’s Trevor Littler, in a contest Mullings looked to have clearly won. Right from the opening bell, both boxers went straight down to business. Mullings constantly catching his opponent with the double jab, caught Littler with two useful looking right hands. The second round was an even more dominant one for Mullings, this time using the right uppercut to come back with damaging left hooks. The third session went the way of the Army man. Littler caught Mullings with a low blow and Mullings lost concentration and was put under constant pressure thereafter. The last round saw Mullings, clearly feeling the pace, re-establish command of the bout, keeping Littler off balance with double jabs and straight right hands. Littler caught Mullings with a right hand just as the bell sounded. The crowd voiced their approval with loud applause lasting over a minute. The judges strangely went for Littler via a majority decision. As scant consolation, Mullings took ‘Best Boxer of the Night.’

Islington Boxing Club came away from the Edmonton Eagles Open Show on Thursday, 31^st January with two victories over opponents from the host club.

Every improving Welterweight, Jeffrey Ofori, made it three wins on the bounce after stopping Michael Saky (Edmonton Eagles) in the last round. Both boxers started cagily in the opening moments. Ofori, stalking his man, scored with a couple of sharp jabs, with Saky replying with two well timely right hands. The second round shaped up much the same as the first, with neither boxer committing themselves too much. The bout was shaping up to a stalemate, until Ofori finally decided to take a chance in the final round. A sustained two handed barrage with Saky trapped in a corner, forced a standing eight count. When action was resumed, it was more of the same, with Ofori’s non-stop punching forcing the referee to rightly end proceedings.

Islington Cruiserweight debutant, Paul Keyte, emerged victorious outpointing Edmonton Eagles game Dan Compton over three, two minute rounds. The tall and rangy Keyte, held the centre of the ring, forcing his opponent to box on the outside. Both scored well with their southpaw right jabs. In the second, Keyte scored with three hard shots to the body, but was caught by a good right hand from Compton as he came rushing in. The final round was all one way traffic, as Keyte forced a standing count, and then continued to bully his opponent across the ring. The judges decision was unanimous in favour of the Islington boxer.