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28/02/2008
England v Ireland
ENGLAND V IRELAND
WESTPORT Co MAYO IRELAND
20th February
The team met at Stanstead airport at 1pm and all boxers, coaches and officials were on time. We were quickly checked in without any problems and took a short flight to Knock in the West of Ireland. We were greeted by the organising association and taken by coach to a first class hotel in the very pretty town of Westport. The boxers settled into their rooms after I reminded them that they are ambassadors for the ABAE. At 6.30 pm we had the Medical and the one official weigh in, that was for both matches and then taken to a superb restaurant where the team were fed soup, sirloin steak and a sweet before making their way back to the hotel to watch the football and have an early nights sleep. As I was leaving the restaurant the manager summoned me and congratulated me on the impeccable good manners of the team this did make me feel very proud of them.
21st February
8am the team were called for breakfast and at 10am we all went for a good walk and a little bit of retail therapy. After lunch at 3pm we held a team meeting where the boxers were given their boxing strips given advice to by our senior referee Mik Basi and a reminder by me on how international boxers behave regardless of the decisions given. Karl Kirkham was selected as the team captain. At 7.30 pm both teams paraded in the ring before the evenings boxing.
54Kg Kevin Satchell V Ryan Lindberg
The bout was fairly close throughout, Kevin was caught with shots when he attacked, he just wasn't fast enough on his feet to catch the slick Irish lad, however a real crowd pleasing start with Lindberg winning 24 -13 Pts
57Kg Martin Ward V Carl Frampton
What a great bout with the strong aggressive Frampton banging shots away at the stylish southpaw Ward who countered brilliantly. It was non stop action for 4 x 2's with a standing ovation at the end. There was a count back because of 16 to 16 Pts with the Irish man winning 31 to 30. I thought the cleaner more accurate punches came from Ward.
60Kg Karl Place V Anthony Cacace
Karl went on the attack right from the start closing his opponent down. He slipped and blocked most shots but through very little in the first round making it an even first round. After words of encouragement during the break he started to put the shots together and to show he was too good for his opponent who worked hard to survive the bout. Karl was never really under any pressure winning 13 -8 Pts.
64Kg Craig Dixon V Jamie Kavanagh
Craig started the bout getting too close to the shorter Irish man and got caught a couple of times, however, after some words of encouragement during the break he kept Kavanaugh at arms length and got better and better in each round to win fairly comfortably. 12-10 Pts.
54Kg Billy Morgan V Daniel Coughlan
Billy as always boxed out of his skin, doing exactly what he was told but frustratingly the judges score showed him behind at the end of each round, I thought this unfair as Billy did everything right without the score, again like the outstanding international that he is he accepted the decision magnanimously.
60Kg Michael Bailey V Eric Donavan
This was not the Michael Bailey that I know, it was quite a poor showing with him over stretching, falling off balance and generally untidy work. This was not a crowd pleasing bout with Bailey not responding to advice. Losing 13 -2 Pts.
60Kg Chris Higgs V Raymond Moylett
Chris earned his first senior vest with honour, he boxed, he fought, and he banged away at a very aggressive, cheered on local lad. It was a real crowd pleaser. Chris won a well deserved 13-9 Pts.
69Kg Adam Ismail V Terry O'Neill
Here another English man was intimidated by the occasion of an overcrowded loud Irish biased crowd. Adam became back hand shy but when he did let it go, he caught his opponent, but never really got himself into gear losing 12-7 Pts.
75Kg Karl Kirkham V Sean Shevlin
Karl started by rocking his opponent and giving him a count. The Irish man was having none of that and dug in and started throwing shots back. Karl was 8 Pts up after the first round. In the second round Karl got caught and was rocked, he received a count and was okay but got a little scrappy and seemed to run out of ideas. He was still well up at the end of the second. In the third round he got caught again but fortunately for Karl, Shevlin received a cut eye and after a long look at it by the doctor he stopped the bout in favour of Kirkham.
81Kg Michael Fielding V Michael Mullaney
Michael had a slow start but stayed ahead by one point in each round. The bout was to and fro all the way but you could see that Fielding was by far the better boxer winning a very close 7- 6 Pts.
After the boxing a check was made for any injuries and there was only a little bit of bruising on Karl Place's eye and sore muscle in Michael Fielding's arm. The team had a meal and after unwinding went to bed.
22nd February
After breakfast another check on injuries and then the hotel rooms were cleared and checked by the coaches. At 11.30am a bus took the team to a hotel in Sligo, where the team settled in after a meal. At 3 pm a team meeting was held where words of advice, encouragement and tactics were given. There was also a reminder on the team's impeccable behaviour and to keep it up. At 6.30 pm the bus took the team to our second tournament venue. The venue was a ten minute drive from the hotel to a community centre. It was a very cold building and the ring was a three roped one. I spoke to the boxers and coaches about the importance of warming up properly in such a cold place.
54Kg Billy Morgan V Danny Coughlan
Billy was determined from the off that he was not going to be seen off again, he had a cracking first round only to come back to a 4-2 down, Billy stuck to his guns and kept the pressure on through out the bout although well beaten the young Irish lad should be congratulated for his determination to take the bout to Billy. 10-4Pts win.
54Kg Kevin Satchell V Derek Thorpe
There was never a great deal between both boxers throughout the bout, to me Kevin always seemed to be one or two shots ahead and this showed by him leading at the end of the third round. At the end of the bout the scores were 11-11Pts and even on count back. So it went to the Judges vote and Kevin got the nod. The Irish crowd showed their distaste by jeering but the right decision was made.
57Kg Martin Ward V Willie Casey
This was such a one sided bout I believe that on any multi-nations tournament that it would have been stopped RSCO to Martin, he really was a class act throughout catching his much slower opponent with 3 and 4 shot combinations with regular monotony. He was cool headed throughout the bout and was way head throughout. At the end of the fourth round it was announced as even points on score and count back. I looked around at the judges and saw that the majority were Irish and I knew what the outcome was going to be, they gave the nod to Casey I looked into the crowd and nearly all were shaking their heads. Martin was the true competitor and shrugged his shoulders and accepted the decision.
60Kg Chris Higgs V Anthony Cacace
Again another really competitive bout with the Irish boxer nicking the first round, from then on Chris closed his boxer down and was catching him with back hand shots and strong jabs giving him the lead over the next two rounds. In the fourth round that was very even not one point was give to Chris but his opponent was far more points giving Cacace the bout 10-7 Pts. I notice that one of our judges was sat out when it should have been three of ours officiating, I did let my feelings known to the OIC officials, but they said it was a genuine mistake. A mistake I believe that took a decision away from an English boxer.
64Kg Craig Dixon V Tommy Dwyer
Craig quickly got into his stride by picking the points up and this time he didn't try to have a scrap. He sat back the majority of the bout and stole the points. 13-6Pts.
69Kg Adam Ismail V Willie McGloughlan
Adam got caught early in the round with a good back hand shot and took a count he seemed ok. McGloughlan went on the attack and caught Adam with a flurry of fast shots and the referee jumped in. Adam was ok the referee aired on the side of caution and made the correct decision and stopped the bout.
75Kg Karl Kirkham V Jimmy Sweeney
After Karl's below par performance the previous evening, he listened to instruction and boxed like the performer he is. Throughout the bout he did not try to rush things and took his time to completely dominate the much shorter Sweeney. 16-3Pts.
81Kg Michael Fielding V Michael Malloney
This bout was the only two boxers competing against each other for the second time. Obviously the Irish fancied their chances after losing by one point the previous evening, It was not to be this time. Fielding had learned by his mistakes from the night before and went on the attack crashing back hands into his opponents face, Malloney was never out of it at any time, but could not keep up with the cleaner shots of Fielding. 10-4Pts.
Although there were some strange decisions over the last couple of days, we have come to live with that. The boxers had a great time and the hospitality that the Irish gave to us was second to none.
Officials
Mik Basi
Yacoob Hussein
Ian Drary
These gentlemen did a first class duty in officiating for England and also became great team members and were well liked.
Coaches
Tony Challinor
Alwyn Belcher
Both did a first class in assisting the National Coach in his duties making the task a lot easier and proving England with some outstanding Regional Coaches.
23 February
After a good night's sleep and a full Irish breakfast the team were transported to Knock airport, the flight was on time and on landing in Stanstead we said our farewells.
Mick Gannon BEM
ABAE National Coach