Sparks fly at Falmouth and Penryn ABC's bumper night of boxing

A full programme of 16 bouts took place, with nine Falmouth and Penryn boxers taking part in the action, four of whom were making their debuts, as well as a Western Counties Middleweight title bout.

Reece Cotterill was the first of the local lads in action, against Calvin Robertson from Bideford. Reece started cautiously, using the first round to find his feet in the ring and work out his opponent’s tactics. By the start of round two, Reece was clearly growing in confidence, moving fluidly around the ring and picking off Robertson at will with straight jabs and right hands. The third round saw further dominance from the Falmouth boxer, including a standing count against his Bideford rival, leaving no room for doubt and Reece with a unanimous points win from his first contest. Reece’s impressive debut also earned him the award for best Falmouth and Penryn boxer of the night.

Lewis Rollason opened well against Avalon’s Joe Bowers, pressing him hard throughout the first round, landing a good variety of head and body shots. Unfortunately, the Falmouth boxer seemed to be pressing too hard in the following rounds, more often than not finding himself too close to his opponent to score with clear blows without being caught by Bowers’ counter punches, which led to the Avalon boxer taking a split decision.

Kaiden Symons was the second of the Falmouth debutants, facing the more experienced Jordan Modgridge from Torbay. Both lads clearly had powerful punches in their armoury, but Symons had the better movement, avoiding being caught by Modgridge’s hammer blows, whilst landing quality jabs and right hands to the target area. A series of devastating right hands to the head in the third round led to a standing count for the Torbay boxer and a convincing win for Symons, to the delight of the Falmouth supporters.

Senior Brian Higgins started the action following the interval, with a great opening round against Exmouth’s Shaun Gould, keeping him under pressure throughout. Gould rallied at the start of round two, catching Higgins with a flurry of head shots, which led to a standing count. Although clearly not hurt, Higgins picked up an eye injury, leaving the referee with no option but to stop what was developing into an enthralling contest.

Team mate Ben Cotterill had a strong start in his contest with Will Walker of Torbay, but the visitor weathered the early storm, coming back to land some hard punches of his own, which slowed Bens movement and attacks, leaving him struggling to keep Walker at bay in rounds two and three, earning the Torbay man a well deserved points win.

Joe True had the measure of Exmouth’s Josh Pender from the opening bell, dominating the first round with sharp counters and good movement. The second round saw him relax a little and Pender took the opportunity to edge back into the contest, before True again dominated in the third, forcing a standing count and threatening to stop the contest just as the final bell rang. The judges saw things a little differently to the crowd, however, awarding a split decision by the narrowest of margins to the Exmouth Boxer, to the surprise of the onlookers.

Last of the Falmouth and Penryn newcomers was local all round sportsman Mike Brewer, up against Sydenham’s Simon Heyburn. Brewer used his height and reach advantage to keep his experienced opponent at bay, in a close contest, where his display of calm and controlled boxing, interspersed with occasional bursts of power shots to upset the rhythm of the visitor earned him a unanimous points win.

Neither Falmouth’s Brett Ralph, or Bideford’s Barry Lee could be labelled calm and controlled in their bout. Both men wanted control of the ring from the start, with neither prepared to give the other an inch in what was arguably the best bout of the night. Three rounds of toe to toe action went by, with neither boxer moving from the centre of the ring apart from the breaks between rounds, each responding to the other’s punches with swift counters, drawing loud shouts of appreciation from the crowd at each exchange. By the end of the third round, both had given it their all, barely having the energy to return to their corners!

A point was all that separated the two boxers, with the Bideford man’s arm being raised to cheers of support for both men from the appreciative fans.

Chris Sloggett took on Ben Hobbs of Sydenham in a cracking heavyweight contest. Southpaw Hobbs had good movement and hand speed, whilst Sloggett was relentless in pressing forward with powerful punches. Hobbs scored well, particularly early on in the contest, but was rocked by some of Sloggett’s big right hands, his legs noticeably buckling on a couple of occasions. The last round saw Sloggett pile on the pressure, but Hobbs was able to keep moving out of danger, to take the decision on points at the bell.

The final contest of the night was to decide the Western Counties Middleweight Challenge Belt title holder, between holder Devenport’s Jordon Ruth and challenger Sydenham’s Lewis Scutt. Three rounds of non-stop action, between two of the Westcountry’s best boxers took place, with speed, skill and stamina tested to the limits for both boxers. Jordon Ruth came out on top, retaining his title by a unanimous points verdict, winning the belt outright, having successfully won three consecutive title challenges.

The night was a fantastic advert for Cornish boxing, with a great atmosphere provided by the full house of supporters, some from across the globe and tremendous displays of skill, grit and sportsmanship from all of the boxers.

Thanks must go to the boxers and coaching staff of all clubs present, the England Boxing officials, M/C Jamie Johnson, DJ Steve Sykes, Falmouth School, for providing chairs to seat the full house, W.C Rowe, for providing pasties to feed the boxers, our generous sponsors, who provided the funds to hold the tournament, including A&P, Stout Security, TTS Engineering, Cargo Clothing.com, Wooden Hand Brewery, Bobby’s Bar, Armada, Global switchgear, Brain Associates ltd, Cluster Support team, Bar Stores, MacSalvors, Relay engineering, Shield environmental services, SCA Group, Mike McGinn, PowerFal, all who donated raffle prizes, those who volunteered to help on the night in the kitchen, bar and door and the staff of the Dracena Centre. Thanks also to Ian Blackburn (Gloves Management), Wayne Lewis Photography, Sophie Russell, Natasha Gregovic and Emily Hardisty for ring services and of course those who supported the boxers and club, making the night the great social occasion it was.

If you are interested in boxing, to keep fit, or to compete, Falmouth and Penryn ABC meet on Tuesdays7.30 to 9pm and Wednesdays 6 to 7pm (juniors) at the Dracena Centre, Falmouth. All ages from 10 upwards and all levels of experience are welcome to join us. Find us on Facebook for more information.

Results

Juniors/youth:-

Jack Opie vs Oliver Banasiak skills

Lukas Carter (Torbay) vs George Parsons (Rough Diamonds) skills

Beau Gallop (Exmouth) bt Kane Best (St Austell) points

Reece Cotterill (Falmouth and Penryn) bt Calvin Robertson (Bideford) points

Kai Draper (Torbay) bt Jack Lockley (Rough Diamonds) points

Charlie Parr (Torbay) bt Gez Millard (Sydenham) split decision

Joe Bowers (Avalon) bt Lewis Rollason (Falmouth and Penryn) split decision

Nial Cabiong (Torbay) bt Billy Fee (Rough Diamonds) points

Kaiden Symons (Falmouth and Penryn) bt Jordan Modgridge (Torbay) points

Seniors:-

Sean Gould (Exmouth) bt Brian Higgins (Falmouth and Penryn) TKO(i)2

Will Walker (Torbay) bt Ben Cotterill (Falmouth and Penryn) points

Josh Pender (Exmouth) bt Joe True (Falmouth and Penryn) split decision

Mike Brewer (Falmouth and Penryn) bt Simon Heyburn (Sydenham) points

Barry Lee (Bideford) bt Brett Ralph (Falmouth and Penryn) split decision

Ben Hobbs (Sydenham) bt Chris Sloggett (Falmouth and Penryn) Points

Jordon Ruth (Devonport) bt Lewis Scutt (Sydenham) points