Burnside boxer wins national championship

Dec 24 2008 by Will Henshaw, Rutherglen Reformer

A BURNSIDE lad is boxing clever after winning a competition in Fife.

Hughie Gray won the Scottish 60k Novice Championship in Cardenden in Fife.

The 15-year-old put his opponent down in the first round and his Cambuslang boxing coach Peter Harrison hailed his victory.

Peter said: “He boxed really well, there were about 259 entries, not at Hughie’s weight however.

“It was an event that lasted two days and it was a great weekend for Scottish boxing.

“Hughie boxed Christopher Cadwell from the North West Boxing Club in Kilmarnock.”

Peter explained that Cadwell’s aggressive gung-ho tactics allowed Hughie to keep his opponent at bay using patient skilful jabs.

Peter added: “Cadwell was an aggressive guy who liked to come forward.

“In the semi-final he was very aggressive but when Hughie boxed him he controlled him from the start behind the jab.

“He boxed with his left jab and did combinations to the head and body and then the referee gave him a count.

“Then again, also in the first round, the ref gave him another count for another head shot then they stopped the fight.”

The rules in under-16 boxing is if you get two counts in one round the fight is automatically stopped, which in this case worked to Hughie’s advantage.

And the Holyrood High School pupil was delighted with his achievement.

He said: “It went well, I stopped him in the first round.

“I’m really pleased with it.”

Hughie has been into boxing for three years now and already has his sights set on future targets.

He added: “This year I’d ideally like to win the Scottish Championships.”

Hughie is not the only local lad finding success in boxing.

As reported recently in the Reformer Stephen Lavelle of King’s Park enjoyed a good tournament showing in Berlin last month where he also trained the prize of best Scottish boxer.

Peter also trains Stephen and insists this a good time for Scottish boxing.

He concluded: “There are a lot of lads out there with potential and the ability to go on to big things”