Perry crowned Sussex champ as Horsham duo box in national championships

First up was Perry, facing Worthing’s Cameron Andre. After winning the Southern Counties title in his last experience of the National Championships, Perry was feeling confident and eager to repeat this success.

As the bell went to open the first round, both Perry and Andre met in the centre of the ring, firing punches. Perry started to fire and land clean punches on the move as the Worthing boxer attempted to box on the front foot and close the distance.

Andre had his success and caught Perry after rolling under the punches from Perry, but as Perry began to get more comfortable, he found his range and started to have more success with uppercuts, landing powerful punches with intent.

Perry caught Andre with a solid right uppercut, left hook combination and followed with another right uppercut which looked to hurt the Worthing man as he tried to hold out. It became apparent Andre was injured and after a review from the doctor, the ref was forced to end the contest in the first round and go to the judges’ scorecards.

Perry was announced the winner, declaring him the Sussex champion.

He will now box on September 30 in the Southern Counties final, where he looks to become two-times Southern Counties champion.

Next up for Horsham was club captain Jolly, who after his successful win last week against an experienced opponent, was feeling up for the challenge against Ziggy Henry of Hastings Westhill BC.

In the first round, the pair started fast with a barrage of punches but then began to settle to find their range. With Henry being the taller of the two, Jolly struggled to get his shots off in range after slipping the jab from the southpaw stance of Henry, who continued to fire his jab, but Jolly was doing well to make him miss.

After both boys had successes, Henry caught Jolly with a solid lead hand hook and as he attempted to follow up with a couple of punches which Jolly was trying to move out of the way of, the referee jumped in and gave the Horsham boxer a standing-eight count. The round continued with 30 seconds left and Henry tried to come forward, but Jolly continued to press forward.

The second round was closer with both boxers pressing forward with their own punches. Jolly was forcing Henry to work on the back foot as the Horsham boxer attempted to force the pace.

Jolly was set for a busy third round, coming straight to the centre firing straight punches, followed by powerful hooks. After multiple heavy punches, Henry was given two standing-eight counts. But despite Jolly winning the last round convincingly, Henry was declared victorious, to the surprise of many.

Perry and Phelan Jeffery will represent Horsham BC in the Southern Counties final next week.