Boxing club dig deep to help ill six-year-old’s treamtent fund

THE Times Boxing Club raised the roof at the Rocket on Friday night – and also raised almost �4,000 for charity.

The club from Copenhagen Street, Islington, staged their second show of the season at the Holloway Road venue, and this evening had a special fundraising theme.

All proceeds were to go towards the ‘Help Millie’ fund, in aid of Millie D’Cruz-Parsley, a six-year-old girl with a life-threatening rare illness called methachromatic leukodystrophy.

Millie’s parents are trying to raise �200,000 for life-saving treatment in Holland to counter the rare condition which affects nerve fibres around the brain.

The Times club had also been on a sponsored run through the streets of Islington last month, and between them the events have so far earned �3,800 with more expected to come.

“The boxing fraternity have rallied round and we were really stunned by people’s generosity on Friday night,” said Dave Ryan, head coach at Times ABC.

“We didn’t ever expect to earn that much, especially as it’s hard for a lot of people at the moment, but people just kept giving and in the end we had so much money we could barely hold it all.”

While the night was focused on the charity, it was also about some high-quality amateur boxing that saw juniors and seniors from across the capital take to the ring.

And hosts Times had plenty of success on the night, the first coming from 12-year-old debutant Alfie Andrews, who defeated G Brookfield of Northolt ABC in a junior bout.

Senior middleweight Julius Amoah was another Times winner as he defeated C Edwards (Finchley ABC) in a well-matched bout that saw the home boxer take the verdict.

Welterweight Cyp Adesuji continued his recent winning form with another fine success, this time over A Chakir of Finchley.

And lightweight Dujon Huhges completed a quartet of Times winners as he again looked impressive in defeating J Al-Hasahm (Dale Youth ABC). Hughes was also voted as the boxer of the night.

Islington BC also had plenty of boxers on the show, and 16-year-old Davoud Qayoumi was their standout winner, as he defeated Grant Davityan (West Ham ABC) in a pulsating 60kgs junior encounter. Qayoumi withstood some severe early pressure from the Eastender before turning the tide in the second and then the final round.

However, there were defeats for his junior team-mates Ben Turner, 13, and Son McDonagh, 14.

Tuner was beaten by Dale Youth’s Zac Chelli in an all-action 56kgs bout, while McDonagh again fell foul of Northolt’s Jack Brooker, who had beaten the Islington boy in the Schoolboy Championships last month, and did so again but only after a McDonagh had given him a real battle in another entertaining encounter.

Islington did have success in their senior ranks, with welterweight Roberto Ruffini, pictured left, defeating Times’ hard-hitting Elijah Okoubi.