County Antrim wins make full house for Lisburn BC

Eddie Stokes (11), Ben Lancaster (14) and Leon Young (16) all fought their way to victory while Lelo Kumbule (12) received a walkover with no other boxer in his weight.

“It was a fantastic effort by all the boxers,” said Head Coach Martin Laverty.

“All of the lads trained hard for this competition and it has paid off as all of them have won.”

Up first was Eddie, fighting in his first ever competition.

Eddie started well as he used his jab and moved brilliantly. As the round progressed, he dominated and got some nice hooks in.

In the second round, his opponent came out and tried to put pressure on him, but Eddie moved well and evaded the attack. As the round went on, Eddie stamped his authority on the fight with some nice punches to the head and body.

The third round was more of the same, and Eddie boxed well. In the end, he won the fight easily to be crowned Co Antrim Champion Boy 1 52KG.

Up next was Ben Lancaster and in his final, he faced a good boy from Gleann Boxing Club.

As the bell sounded, Ben moved quickly to his opponent and put him on the back foot with some nice jabs and right hands. He made his intention clear.

Ben’s opponent tried to get back into the fight, catching the Lisburn lad with some right hands. Ben moved up a gear though and put the pressure right back on his man with a four punch combo, which had his man shaken as he wobbled backwards.

In the third round, Ben again caught his man with a mixture of punches to the head and body to which he had no reply as Ben moved in and out picking him off.

And as the bell went for the end of the fight, it was clear who the winner was as Ben was crowned Boy 4 42KG Co Antrim Champion.

Leon, meanwhile, had a more difficult task as he had to fight three nights in a row if he was to lift the Co Antrim title.

In Leon’s first fight, he started nervously but soon began to find his range and started to catch his opponent with some nice one, twos.

In the second round, Leon was quick to start and launched a ferocious attack which ended in the ref stopping the fight.

And so to fight number two and Leon faced a more formidable opponent.

As the bell went for round one Leon’s opponent made his intentions clear as he threw two hooks which Leon evaded with some nice footwork.

That seemed to jump-start Leon as he came back with some nice double jabs. As the fight progressed, Leon’s sharpness and accuracy was the telling factor as he was first to punch almost every time and moved well to evade his opponent’s attacks.

In the end, Leon won and progressed to the final, in which he struck first with a nice jab. As his man stepped back, Leon came in with one, two, combo and it was clear to see who was the stronger.

The Lisburn boxer moved well and landed good solid shots as he began to take control of the fight.

In the second round, Leon stopped up his work rate and began to push his man back. Leon let go with a four punch combo ending with a cute right to the body which ultimately finished his man off.

The ref jumped in and stopped the fight and Leon was crowned Co Antrim Champion Boy 16/17, 66KG.

Lisburn BC would like to congratulate all of the lads on a job well done.