The first three young boxers, George Ives, Nate Wellsted and William Willson featured on skills bouts, where no winner is declared and all three boxed with confidence and skill, enjoying the experience immensely.
Then followed six intensely competitive school boy and junior level competitions involving the club’s boxers. Robert Rus clinched a unanimous decision in his first full contest. Harry Funnell and Rodney Willson did not get the decision of the judges against their taller opponents, but boxed with aggression and determination.
Then two of the clubs boxers were cruelly denied victory despite being in control of their bouts when Freddie Judge suffered a dislocated shoulder and Ollie Simpkins suffered a bout of sickness mid round.
Paul Senior, Eastbourne’s head youth coach was at the point of retiring Freddie as his shoulder bone was visibly protruding from the socket, but, warrior that he is, Freddie insisted on continuing until the referee stepped in to stop the contest.
Ollie was also keen to continue immediately and was on course to win his bout, but the referee was left with no choice but to end the bout early as rules stipulate in such cases.
The last under-18 to compete for Eastbourne was Alex Tsikvasvili who beat his opponent for a second time with a lively and authoritative display, using his jab to great effect to disrupt and frustrate his counterpart.
With only two adults competing for the club, Elliott Timms and Eamon Haidary continued the strong performances and both picked up wins.
Having recently fought in the national finals of the development championships, Elliott showed poise and control to defeat a very experienced and dangerous opponent and Eamon closed the show with a first round RSC (Ref Stops Contest) win after flooring his opponent with sharp and accurate combinations.
With the next home show already pencilled into the diary (8th February 2025), the club are really excited about the town’s future stars. Head coach and club chairman Adam Haniver said: “There is a great vibe at the club at the moment with so many youngsters coming through who love to train and compete”.