Successful season for Canal Boxing Academy

The Canal club, based in the County Down side of the town, had a great start to the season with Jack Moore lifting thw County Antrim Intermeniate and Ulster title, but unlucky no to make the trip to Dublin due to injury.

Jason McKay and Kurt Walker both lifted the Irish Intermediate titles at 52 and 56 kg respectively. Sean Montgomery had a fine season lifting the 64kg Intermediate title which paved his way to enter the Ulster Seniors, where he was very unlucky to lose to Paul Hyland.

Cole Maginess, Robbie Gilmore and Chris Armstrong all lost on split decisions in the Championships but at club level they had many wins.

Chloe Fleck was the first girl to lift an Antrim title for the club, which gave passage to Dublin where she reached the final but lost out to a very experienced opponent.

Canal Boxing Club are also over the moon with their first Ulster Senior Title, won by Kurt Walker at 56kg, which would normally pave the way to the Commonwealth Games but World number one, Michael Conlan was picked over him, which shows the strength of boxing in the North of Ireland.

Next up was Stephen McCarragher and Austin McAlonan. Both had a very busy year and both picked up a lot of experience on their travels. Club coaches have high expectations for the two lads in the future.

Club officials and committee members would like to thank Hillsborough Social Club for their continuing supportin helping the club to run their club shows and end of season prize night. On the night the awards went to:

Austin McAlonan - Best Young Boxer

Thomas Maxwell - Best newcomer

Chloe Fleck - Best Girl

Jack Moore - Best Senior Boxer with ten straight wins under his belt

Mia Neill - Most Promising Junior Boxer.