Walsall Wood going strong in NAGBCs
Walsall Wood's trio of National Association Girls & Boys Clubs Championship hopefuls will look to prove they are the best in the Midlands this weekend.
West Midlands champions meet their Eastern counterparts in on Sunday in Coventry, where the contest began two weeks previously,
The Standard Triumph Social Club again stages championship boxing with Shaun Healy's gym, on Lichfield Road in Brownhills, well represented.
Wood's Zaryab Khan is at 54kg in Class A - for boxers born in 2000 - and comes into the tournament after a bye. He will take on Aiden Smith, from Kettering School of Boxing.
Club-mate Hamza Ahmed goes up against Jack Johnson, from Earl Shilton in Leicestershire, having defeated Atherstone's Daniel Bance in the 57kg area decider last weekend.
His battle with Bance took place in the function rooms at De Montfort Park in Hinckley. He'd already defeated Rhamatullah Sher, from Lions in Dudley, unanimously to make progress.
Former England Schools winner and European bronze medallist Jerry Mongan, from Priory Park in Dudley, sits it out this weekend with a walk over.
Mongan saw off Aston's Ellis Truman at 63kg unanimously in Hinckley last weekend, keeping on top for all of the three rounds.
Conna Hincks, from Merridale in Wolverhampton, has his sights sets on a second national title just a month on from his England Junior Development glory.
'The Bradley Bullet' - from Bilston - won his second NAGBC bout against Brandon Pinnock, from Christ the King in Coventry. He now tackles Earl Shilton's Tyler Rivers.
Priory Park's Sam Gwilt bowed out at 54kg in Class B (1999) after his contest with Usman Ali, from Eastside in Birmingham, on a hotly-disputed split decision.
Further Wood interest comes at 49kg in Class C (1997-98), where Ibrahim Khan has been paired with Scunthorpe Centurions' Tyler Brevigheri.
Khan exacted revenge in the previous round against Stoke Staffs' Tom Stokes, who put out his club-mate Rory Leighton in the first phase.
Pleck's James Beech tumbled out at 60kg, with the fight less than a round old. Eastside's Tom Collins forced the stoppage, shaking Beech to his boots with a right hand near the ropes.
A Dudley duo have bowed out at 64kg, starting when Priory Park's Sam Russell lost to Aston's Jaimet Sandhu in a box-off.
Sandhu then repeated the trick to put out Ethan Collins, from the Brooklands home gym in Woodsetton run by retired professional Darren McDermott, in the West Midlands final.
Russell's bout came on a Shrewsbury & Severnside club show at the Lord Hill Hotel, where Pleck's Zoahib Hanif was also eliminated by Triumph's Bradley Goldsmith at 69kg.
Brooklands' Paige Goodyear, a former Schools girls national champion, has walked over the Midlands rounds with no opponents in Class A's 52kg girls section.
