Duo get set for ABA junior final

Dale Doody could bring a national ABA junior title back to Wednesbury Amateur Boxing Club this weekend after reaching the final - without throwing a punch.

Doody has recieved a bye all the way to Saturday's decider against Jake Coleman, of the Tyldesley Centurions ABC in Greater Manchester, at the Passion nightclub in Rochester, Kent.

Fellow Wednesbury fighter Josh Stokes, of Wodensbrough ABC, joins him in the Class 6 final, with a tough fight of his own on Sunday against the rarely beaten Andrew Doe, of Tommy's ABC in Reading.

But it will be Doody's first time in action, as he and Coleman were the only two fighters in the country to enter the competition at light flyweight.

And the 17-year-old will get himself in the mood by watching a home show on Friday night, where his club-mates will be in action on a bill at the Yew Tree Social Club on Brackendale Drive, Walsall.

However, it's finding fights Doody that has caused headaches for Wednesbury match-maker Anthony Tobin, while trainers Stuart Grainger and Vince Bailey keep the teenager ticking over in the gym.

Tobin said: "We take him anywhere and go anywhere with him, just to get him about. But he's up for it, he's really is. This is the first championships he has been able to enter, because of how little he is.

"That's the problem we have with Dale but we hope he will be classed as a senior boxer next year, so we can step him up an age group."

While Doody prepares for his first fight in the competition, Stokes is hoping it will be third time lucky after finally reaching the final.

In a congested welterweight division, the 17-year-old has won three Midlands titles, reached the quarter and semi finals before going all the way to the last two this year.

But Stokes is up against a former ABA schoolboys champion in Doe, formerly of the famed Repton ABC in London, who has a good record of 46 wins out of 50 amateur fights.

To take the title, Stokes will have to do it the hard away, but trainer Steve O'Rourke believes that will bring out the best in his top prospect.

He said: "To be the best you have got to beat the best and we are going in there to win.

"We have got a game-plan and Josh has come on very, very well - he's a dedicated boy and, if anybody deserves any success in the game, it's lads like him."