Date published: October 25, 2022
Boxer Hamber Alfie McKay (right) fought Adyan Musa Ashraf
On Sunday October 16, 14-year-old ‘Charming’ Alfie McKay reached the semi-finals of England’s National Boxing Championship when he traveled to Bridlington Sports Center in Yorkshire to meet Saifs Boxing’s Adyan Musa Ashraf Club at Rotherham.
Ashraf entered the ring in the red corner with a record of seven wins and just one loss, so Alfie and his team knew they had a lot to do to achieve success. His trainer Steven Connellan told boxer Hamer that his opponent was a southpaw, which meant he was left-handed, so he would lead with his right hand. Connellan told Alfie to step back and put his weight on his back foot to unload right hands on his opponent’s chin when the boxer from Rotherham approached him. He also told Alfie to step in with a double punch, followed by a right hand to the chin, if the Rotherham boxer was waiting for him to come near him.
The bell rang for round one and the Yorkshire champion came out of his corner intent on stopping his opponent. He unloaded a solid right hand to the face of his challenger Hamer, before going to the body with more solid punches, then coming back up with a right hook to the chin. Although the momentum of the action inflamed Ashraf’s supporters, the force of his blows did not faze Alfie at all. It wasn’t long before he started to find his reach with his longer reach to unload continuous one-two combinations on the head of his opponent, who occasionally grabbed Alfie in the chin with an overhand left hand to the face. This continued throughout the round as the momentum and speed of Alfie’s punches slowly began to show the judges what he was capable of.
Before the start of the second round, Hamer’s trainer, Steven Connellan, told Alfie to fight his opponent a lot more, as he thought Ashraf was a front foot fighter who wouldn’t know what to do if he was forced onto his back foot. .
When the bell rang for round two and Alfie immediately followed his coach’s instructions when he landed three solid right hands to the head. From there, the fight slowly began to change course as Alfie began to force his opponent onto his back foot with continuous one-two combinations to the head. The Rotherham puncher periodically had his fans screaming with excitement when he occasionally landed his solid punch to the chin, but Alfie’s quick combinations began to take their toll on his opponent who began to tire. Alfie forced him onto the ropes and Ashraf started to hold his rival Hamer, which prompted warnings from the referee.
Before the start of the third and final lap, Steven Connellan told Alfie to pick up the pace of the action a notch, as he thought Ashraf was relying too much on his power, which was slowing him down.
The bell rang for the final round and Alfie stepped on his front foot to meet his opponent in the center of the ring, who came out throwing a significant and heavy blow at his opponent Hamer, which momentarily forced Alfie onto his back foot. . It wasn’t long before the pace and tempo of the action changed again when the determined young boxer from Rochdale began to force his opponent onto the ropes with quick combinations to the head, which brought more referee warnings when Ashraf started to hold his opponent once more.
As soon as the action was cleared to begin, Alfie forced his opponent onto the ropes with a solid right hand to the chin, followed by a relentless bombardment of combinations to the head, which instantly forced the referee to step in and to issue Ashraf with standing. count eight, before the bell rings to end the fight in favor of boxer Hamer.
Not all successful performances catch the judges’ eye, and that proved the case when 14-year-old Austin ‘Powers’ Heneghan traveled to Bradford to take on the challenge of local boxer Iyran Walker from the Training Cave. Boxing Club, where he landed for around six years. punches to each landed by Walker in every round, but always lost through poor judgment.
Hamer’s boxing trainer Steven Connellan said: “It’s happening far too often now, all over the country, with judges unable to make the right decisions, both in professional and amateur boxing. I’m concerned about this for about two to three years and I think we now have the technical know-how to use cameras for artificial judging, which will stop all of this.
“Although these wrongful decisions have upset quite a few boxers, who have walked away from the sport en masse, I am glad that my young boxer is not afraid to step into his opponent’s backyard to take on any challenge. .”