Trio secure wins over host club
Islington Boxing Club had four young boxers in action at the Fairbairn ABC dinner show at Chigwell’s Prince Regent Hotel on Friday.
Liam Byrne, 12, produced a confident display against Eros Ferizolli (Fairbairn) in a 38kg skills contest to open proceedings, before clubmate Dillon McDonagh claimed the first of three wins against the host club.
McDonagh, 15, faced Umar Khan at 56kg, having beaten his rival on a split decision at the Boston Dome in December, but then suffered a stoppage defeat at East Ham Working Men’s Club in February.
And he came out well, using his skills to evade Khan’s punches while landing southpaw jabs to the head of his opponent.
The second round followed a similar pattern, with the Islington boxer setting the pace and scoring well, and Khan’s final round rally was not enough to deny McDonagh victory.
Connor Daly faced former national junior champion Aaron Lawrence in a 49kg contest and, despite conceding 2kg in weight, outboxed his rival for most of the contest.
Lawrence tried to land big punches on Daly, but the Islington youngster showed a great work rate and dominated the second round as he moved well around the ring.
Superior fitness levels and skill earned Daly a unanimous decision and the 17-year-old is hoping to land gold at the upcoming Hull and Haringey Box Cup tournaments in June.
Completing the Islington line-up at the Prince Regent Hotel was Emmanuel Ally, who had age, weight and experience on his side against Fairbairn’s Taps Makadho in their 60kg contest.
Brighton University student Ally dominated in only his second appearance for the club, outboxing his opponent over the course of the four two-minute rounds and landing strong jabs and combination punches for a fully deserved unanimous decision.
n Islington super-welterweight Aarron Morgan suffered a fifth-round defeat against Joe Pigford on Frank Warren’s promotion at the Copper Box Arena on Saturday.
Morgan started well, showing good hand speed to catch his opponent when working in close and evading long left jabs.
But Morgan was caught by a right hook to the temple in the fifth, following by another right to the head and a left fook and fell to the canvas before referee Lee Every called it off with 27 seconds left in the round.
Daniel Dubois, 19, needed just 40 seconds to knock out Sheffield’s Dave Howe with a right hook to the chin for a third successive professional win.
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