Sam Daly reached his first National amateur boxing final when he beat Andrew Winter of Shildon in his semi-final in Sunderland on Sunday.
But there was to be no glorious double for the Kings Heath ABC, as Kieron Conway lost narrowly in his semi-final to the classy Sahir Iqbal from the Bury Boys club.
Daly shrugged off watching his club-mate’s defeat to produce a polished performance against a tough opponent.
Daly left nothing to chance with a dominant first two rounds. Winter charged forward in the last round to close the gap, but Daly remained composed to claim the win.
“People are aware of the adversity that Sam has faced , it’s only through his own sheer determination and hard work that he is able to box at all,” said Arthur Daly, the boxer’s trainer and father. “So this was a particularly proud moment for me as I never thought he would be a boxer, let alone get to a championship final.”
Daly now faces Harvey Moon from the famous Repton Club in the final in Stoke on December 6.
In the 57 - 60kg Class A, Conway went down on the tightest of majorities against the most decorated boxer in the tournament - Iqbal is a three-times National Champion and is the reigning Tri-nations Champion.
But Iqbal was given his toughest bout for some time as Conway gave it his all over three thrilling rounds.
“They thought they had lost it but I thought the decision could have gone either way and have no complaints,” said Daly.
“Hopefully this was a dress rehearsal for the Junior ABA Championships and we can reverse the decision. Kieron is still improving and I would not hesitate to take this bout again.”
Meanwhile, Far Cotton ABC fighter Kyle Owen also missed out at the CYP Championships semi-final stage, losing to Tom Nicholson (Darlington ABC) at 75kg.
Owen paid the price for a slow start as despite dominating the final round, he fell to a unanimous decision defeat.
Nathan Leeson is set for a British-title rematch - and Danny Lineham also has a big fight to look forward to after an action-packed fight night in Sussex.
The Northampton fighters headed to Copthorne to box on the Queensbury Boxing League’s latest big show in front of the Eurosport cameras.
Leeson was edged out by Gareth Gardner after a terrific back-and-forth scrap for the League’s British middleweight title - and Lineham booked a crack at the English belt with an exciting stoppage win.
Leeson’s title challenge looked to be in the balance going into the fifth and final round - and Gardner nicked the session on the judges’ scorecards to keep the belt.
Gardner also holds the light-middleweight title and Queensberry Boxing League bosses confirmed they hope to stage the rematch for the 11-stones belt next March or April.
“I’ve got Gardner’s number,” said Leeson. “I will definitely beat him next time at light-middleweight.
“I was the better boxer, but his work rate was good. It was a very close fight and I asked for a rematch straight afterwards.”
Lineham will box Sam Holloway for the League’s vacant English middleweight title after stopping red-hot favourite Andy Thompson in three dramatic rounds.
Lineham was on the brink of pulling out after being taken ill just days the fight - but the 32 year-old went on to claim the best win of his exciting ring career.
Thompson is a super-fit punching machine - and Lineham went toe-to-toe with him in an exciting opening round.
Lineham got on the back foot in the second, then took the fight to Thompson in the third.
He unloaded two-fisted combinations that led to a standing ‘eight’ count and Lineham’s follow-up attack had Thompson badly dazed again and the referee waved the fight off.
Ringside judges handed Lineham and Thompson their Fight of the Night award - and the Duston scrapper said: “That was the sort of statement I wanted to make.”
Both fights will be shown on Eurosport next month.
Northampton ABC are building for the future and last Saturday had 10-year-old twins Harry and Jimmy Pullen in action at St.Ives Corn Exchange, in no-decision skills bouts.
Both did well against taller opponents with Jimmy taking on home club hopeful Robert Page and Harry meeting David Bains from Burton Park ABC.
The twins are keen to be chalking up wins, but will have to wait until they turn 11 later in the year.
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