51 pictures of a bumper night for Crawley Amateur Boxing Club

Senior Mo Hassine brought the packed house down in his show closer against late stand-in Meshak Qualley of the SparkFit Boxing Club in Croydon at senior 80kg.

It was a classic box-fighter toe to toe encounter in the final round as big shots were going in from both men after Qualley won the first and Hassine won the 2nd. A big left hook saw the Londoner hit the canvas which gave Hassine added confidence. It could have gone either way and cheers erupted amongst the Crawley fans when Hassine had his hand raised.

Junior Guy Watson carried on his impressive winning run with a victory over John Mongan of Horsham at 42kg. Guy’s crisp jabs and rear hands picked up the points against his local opponent. Finishing combinations left the judges in no doubt.

Lucas Noel had something of a baptism of fire into the boxing game when he faced Chris Searle of Woking at 56kg.

In a tough fought contest both lads gave their all and what Lucas lacked in technique he more than made up for in heart. The closest of margins saw Searle take the nod of the judges. Many of the crowd thought Lucas was the winner.

Archie Minter stepped up to make his debut in front of his own supporters but sadly it wasn’t his day. Despite both weighing in at 67kg, Woking’s Raf Kawaga was a good 6 inches taller and he used is to his full advantage.

For a debutant it was a big ask. And while Minter, 14, started to have success in the later part of the contest it was too late and the bout slipped away from him, losing on a close points decision.

Last season’s Southern Counties junior champion Dylan Heneghan lost out to close rival Noah Jolly of Horsham at 69kg in a bout that saw both lads pushed all the way. Heneghan’s inactivity this season showed and he was coming off second best in the flurry of exchanges.

Owen Castell is still chasing that elusive first win after losing on points to Surbiton’s Charlie Flint at 49kg. Owen held his own and tried in vain to chase Flint down but was picked off as he came forward.

Clubmate Junior Dinally followed at 46kg and lost on points to the unbeaten Paul Green from the BN1 Boxing Club.

In another Crawley – Brighton clash, Lucas Brown took on Michael Manning of Moulescoombe. Lucas was giving away weight and experience and used his height to his advantage, firing out jabs which Manning struggled to deal with. However it was Manning’s superior workrate that saw him take the decision at the end of three rounds.

Big punching Crawley-based Ukrainian Dimitry Ilyuk was surprisingly stopped in the final round by Surbiton’s Frankie Lord at 69kg who has now won 3 of his 4 bouts. Despite landing some heavy shots to wobble Lord it was Ilyuk who was out on his feet in the last round forcing coach Andy Watson to throw in the towel to prevent his man receiving any further punishment.

In the senior ranks Club Captain Olly Rhymes was unlucky to lose to Charnce Smith from Croydon at 73kgs. It was the slow start for Rhymes that cost him this one. Despite a storming last round which he clearly won the London man had done enough in the previous two to get the nod.

Sam Kingstone made his boxing debut in front of his home crown when he faced Jack Edwards of Hillcrest at 74kg. It was inexperience that played its part and Sam ran out of gas in the last round. A flurry of shots went unanswered and the referee stopped the contest.