Marco Fatehnia, having recently won the NABGC Championships, boxed in the National open class Junior Championships Saturday, scoring his first stoppage, knocking his opponent to the canvas with a short, sharp southpaw hook within the first 10 seconds of the bout.
All Credit To Edward Pemberton of Waterlooville boxing club as he took the standing count and continued to box on. However Marco was now even more determined to try und get the stoppage.
Picking his shots and now full of confidence, he landed another lead hook, followed by a stiff back hand and the Ref gave a second standing count and decided enough was enough and called a halt to the bout. Marco has mow added the Southern Counties Charpion to his resume and progresses to the next round.
Whilst all of this was happening, the rest of the Horsham ABC team was busy setting up for their third home show of the season at the, now hugely popular on the boxing circuit, Drill Hall.
Having recently been taken over by Lifespring Church, they have been kind enough to let us continue to have this as the home of Horsham Boxing Club shows.
Every club that attends express how much of a lovely venue it is and we can’t thank Lifespring enough for their hospitality.
Thirteen Horsham boxers were on the card with six supporting bouts.
Opening the show was Jayden Lawless who is the first from the Mini Mayhem group to ever compete. Being a skills bout, there is no winner or loser and both Jayden and Jesse Goddard of Bordon ABC did theirselves proud putting on a great display of boxing and got the crowd going. Deservedly, after three rounds of skilful boxing, both lads had their hands raised.
Following him and another Mini Mayhem veteran, Rocco Hunt also had a skills bout with Gordej Scekutejev of Surbiton Boxing Club. Again being a learning bout, both lads displayed great boxing and had their hands raised at the final bell.
The last skills bout of the show saw Jimmy Connors take on Hudson Drewitt-Barlow of Moulescoombe. Being his first skills, Jimmy was slightly pressured in the first round before finding his distance in the second and third, making it an entertaining watch.
Frazer Hodgson was the opening contest of the competitive bouts in a rematch with Johnny Keet from Bordon ABC. Like their first bout, both boys showed guts and determination in an absolute cracking bout of two very evenly matched boxers. At the final bell, Keet was awarded the victory.
Johnny Scarborough was up next taking on Beau Sherwood of Royal T. Having put in a bit extra training, Johnny was more determined than ever to get his first win against the taller boxer and showed more aggression than in previous bouts but unfortunately it wasn’t to be as Sherwood used his range well and took the win on a points decision.
Female boxer, Peyton-Marie Jeffery, known as 'Red’ was up next, boxing Angel-Blu Jackson from Sevenoaks. The girls were both evenly matched in the first round, though a tangle of feet saw Red take a tumble and jar her neck. Although in pain, she battled through but it took her out of her stride and she lost on what was a very close contest.
Preston Irving, having seen team mates lose on close decisions was fired up to try and get that win. Taking on Harry Bickell from Artful Dodgers. All three rounds were action packed with the Horsham boxer landing some powerful shots. In the final round with both lads now starting to slow in pace, Bickell landed a body Shot which Preston did well to suck up and reply with his own combinations. At the end of a great bout, Preston’s hand was raised as the clear winner.
Bodyn Cirillo took on late replacement Tylan Jackson. Giving away age, weight and experience, Bo was in a tough battle but eventually out gunned in the second round as the referee called a halt to the bout. Bo showed a lot of heart and courage taking on a good lad on short notice as his original opponent pulled out last minute. All the coaches are very proud of his dedication to the sport.
Horsham’s Levi Mitchell has been putting a lot of hard work in recently and it showed when he boxed Marlee Elphick from Punchout ABC. Marlee started the first round fast, up on his toes but Levi soon found his range and started landing solid punches in combinations. The bout had the crowd on their feet at the end of the three rounds as Levi won by unanimous points decision.
Moving on to the first senior boxer was Giles Rhind. Giles has trained for four years for this moment and wasn’t going to let Sam Casula of Sandwich ABC deny him the victory.
Although very nervous, Giles gave Casula a standing count in the first round by applying relentless pressure. In the second round, he started exactly the same and again the referee was forced to give another standing count and waved the bout off, making Giles the winner by second round stoppage.
Joel Phillips was next boxing Roan Chima from Limehouse. Chima had a bit of experience on Joel and it showed at times, making the Horsham boxer miss and look wild. When Joel used his straight shorts, he had more success but unfortunately at the end of the bout he lost on points.
Bailey Brown-Watts from Horsham boxed Maksymilian Gunerka from Surbiton. Bailey had informed his coach he was going to make this his last bout for a while so he can concentrate on university work and he went out on a big bang.
Starting fast and explosive, Bailey applied pressure from the off, overwhelming the Surbiton boxer with a barrage of punches. The southpaw Surbiton boxer then had his own success but Bailey landed a thumping shot and the ref gave the first standing count.
Knowing he had hurt his opponent, Bailey pounced again forcing another standing count and called the end to the bout so Bailey won by first round stoppage.
The last Horsham boxer to compete was Noah Jolly against Mustapha Jarjue of Limehouse Boxing. In the first round, Mustapha was using his jab well and Noah began to get into his rythm.
The second round saw Noah land flurries of punches and the final round both lads knew they needed to win the round and did not dissapoint with an all action round for Jarjue to be declared the winner at the end.
Horsham Boxing Club would like to thank West Sussex Heating for their continued support with the shows and all of the clubs and supporters for coming along.
Marco will now be boxing in the National Semi Finals of the Junior Championships, along with Peyton-Mare Jeffery (Red) and we wish them all the best.