Aaron Bowen boxes his way into the national finals
Aaron Bowen is through to the England Boxing National Amateur Championship finals as he searches for his second crown in the competition.
The fighter, who trains at Box Smart Elite boxing club in Walsall, previously won the title in 2019 and has now progressed to the final of the 2021 tournament.
Put forward as a GB Boxing seeded fighter, Bowen had his first fight at the quarter final stage and progressed with a unanimous decision victory before the semi-finals at Chase Leisure Centre in Cannock on Sunday.
Fighting in the under 81kg category, Bowen overcame Sonny Coates of the Royal Air Force by unanimous decision to book his place in the final, which takes place in London on Saturday.
This comes after Bowen won gold for GB Boxing at the Golden Gong tournament in North Macedonia last month. It was his first competition for GB Boxing since joining the squad earlier this year.
Bowen will also be joined in the final by Box Smart Elite's Tayla Rushton, who got a bye to Saturday's event as there was only three fighters in her category. She will face Savannah Stubley for the under 51kg crown.
Elsewhere at the England Boxing National Amateur Championships, Box Smart Elite fighter Omarah Taylor was unlucky to lose in the female under-69kg semi-final when she came up against GB Boxing seeded fighter Jodie Wilkinson.
In a close encounter the judges handed Wilkinson a slim victory via a 3-2 split decision.
Taylor’s stablemate Tyrell Cummins also lost in the men’s under 69kg semi-finals by a 3-2 split decision to Owen Rees after having a point deducted for holding, while Wolverhampton’s Gulraj Powar had a split decision loss to Joe McGuinness in the under 60kg category.
The event at Cannock also saw the staging of the England Boxing National Senior Development Championships 2021, which is usually contested separately but was added to the programme following previous postponement due to Covid-19.
There was a superb semi-final victory for Lynsey Perrin, who fights out of the RG Boxing in Bilston.
She beat Niamh Stanley by a split decision to book her place in the final, which also takes place in London on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Wellington boxer Aaron Robinson beat Shrewsbury’s Lewis Gardiner in the under 91kg semi-final by split decision, to put himself though to the final.
