A packed out ballroom at the Crown & Mitre Hotel were entertained to a superb night of amateur boxing at Carlisle Villa Amateur Boxing Club’s latest show.

And it was a successful night for the host club who picked up nine wins from 15 contests.

The evening started with two non-scoring skills contest which were very well contested and all four boxers certainly gave a good account of themselves.

Villa’s Davie Welch boxed Victor Holligan (Birkenhead Venture) and Ethan Falder was in with Armani Angus (High Fell).

Jacob Doyle, 12, was in his first competitive bout against Egremont’s Roman Gill – a really well-matched bout went to the wire and after three rounds Jacob was awarded a split decision points win.

Another 12-year-old, Harley McNeil, was matched against Scottish champion Campbell Smith who was representing the highly respected Keir Hardie club based in Motherwell.

Harley was relentless from the first bell and took the bout to the young Scot. He was throwing shots from all angles and Smith just could not cope with the high tempo, and after three fantastic rounds of boxing Harley won by unanimous decision. 

Henry Moors, 11, was another making his competitive debut. Henry was in with the previously unbeaten Billy Dixon (Wigton ABC).

Henry was on the front foot from the first bell and young Dixon could not get going, a really good performance from Henry who was awarded a unanimous points win.

Ben Reed and Tom Palmer’s contest was named the best bout of the evening (Image: Carlisle Villa ABC)

Michael Ward was matched against another Scottish champion in Marley Bamford (Kier Hardie), Michael used his long jab to good effect in the first round not allowing Bamford to get close. He stepped it up in the second where he landed some solid backhands. More of the same in the final round gave the judges no option to award the bout to Michael by unanimous decision.

Bella Hodgson and Danny Salisbury both lost by unanimous decision to Ellie Rigg (Birkenhead Venture) and Kylan Rimmer (Leigh ABC).

Elliot Murray after a good start let his opponent Joe Downs (Barton ABC) back into the contest and went down to a split decision loss.

Sohan Pun had his opponent Christian Cunningham-Jones in all sorts of bother in the first round after landing some solid shots. Cunningham-Jones recovered well though and came back strong in the second and pushed forward well in the third to take a unanimous points win.

Olllie Jemilijanovas was involved in a lively contest with Zac Foster (Enler ABC) and after three well contested rounds it was Ollie who had his hand raised.

The bout of the night was a youth contest featuring Villa’s Ben Reed and Tom Palmer (Birkenhead Venture), the bout swayed one way then the other with both boxers on their debuts showing real grit and determination. Ben was awarded the win via a 2-1 split decision.

The first senior contest of the night was another bout with plenty of action, Jack Holden up against Hal Stephenson (Shildon ABC). Both boxers landed some power shots but it was Jack who edged all three rounds to win by unanimous decision.

Hudson Simpson was involved in another tough contest and was unfortunate to have a point deducted in the third round when both boxers were guilty of holding, this could have cost him as he went down to a split decision defeat.

Villa’s Chara Rueangprat is always involved in a scrap and once again went toe to toe in his bout with Alex Hubery (Shildon ABC). Always landing the cleaner shots, he was rewarded with a unanimous points win.

The penultimate bout saw Josh Monkhouse pitted against Wigton’s Eddie Graham, Graham was the one who wanted it more, pushing forward in all three rounds to take a well-deserved unanimous points win. 

A good crowd-pleasing bout brought the evening to a conclusion with senior heavyweight boxers Coogan Pattinson and Alex Hargreaves (Morecambe & District) putting on a great show of will power and perseverance in a well contested 3 x 2 minute contest, Coogan edging out the game Hargreaves by unanimous points decision.

The evening’s award winners were as follows:

Best Schoolboy – Harley McNeil

Best Youth/Senior and Andrew Charters memorial shield winner – Chara Rueangprat

Best Bout of the evening – Ben Reed v Tom Palmer (Venture)

Best Away boxer – Kylan Rimmer (Leigh ABC)