West Midlands duo reach NABC national final
Pleck Amateur Boxing Club say it's only a matter of time before they crown their next champion after Liam Etheridge joined Benjamin Whittaker in a final.
Etheridge took out hot favourite, Reece Mould, in his National Ambition Boxing Championship semi-final to stand within a fight of the title.
Three-time national champion Mould, from Doncaster Plant Works ABC, was left bamboozled by fierce offence from the opening bell yesterday.
They clashed at 54kg in Class B - for boxers born in 1994 and 1995 - at the Sherburn Leisure Centre in County Durham.
Straight shots rattled Mould and set out Etheridge's stall in the first round, but the West Midlander was forced onto the back-foot in the second.
A warning for hitting to the back of the head in the third and last session perhaps cost Mould the fight, with Etheridge now looking nailed on.
Trainer Terry Leonard said: "Take it from me, Liam will win the title now. I had the same feeling when Christopher Keane boxed for us in 2009.
"He won onto win the senior ABAs at super heavyweight that year, so it must have been right!"
Wodensborough ABC's Whittaker convincingly made it to the final with a unanimous points victory yesterday after comfortably seeing off Red Johnson.
Whittaker didn't always take the fight to his opponent in their Class A -boxers born in 1997 - 66kg semi-final as he waited patiently to pick his punches.
The Black Country combatant threw long shots and boxed well at middle range, while displaying an excellent array of shots on the back-foot under pressure.
It negated Johnson's attacks and left him wide open to the counter punches, ensuring Whittaker curried favour with the judges and the result wasn't in doubt.
Whittaker will now face the winner of the southern semi-final between Les Stevens and Karim Bassi at the Rainton Meadows Arena in Durham on December 5.
Two-time national champion Connor Jones, from Lions ABC in Dudley, will have to wait until next year for a third title after he was nudged out in the semi-finals.
The two-time national champion's wait for a third title will have to wait until next year, after a majority points defeat to Birtley ABC's John Ruddick.
The two locked horns at 60kg in Class B, for boxers born in 1996.
