Boxing enthusiasts enjoy Malmesbury ABC's 17-bout show (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Boxing enthusiasts enjoy Malmesbury ABC's 17-bout show

A PACKED Studio Hall witnessed a bumper 17-bout bill when Malmesbury ABC staged their final boxing show of the season at Chippenham on Saturday.

Seven of the host club's members were in action and Sam Brazier, having only his second contest, started well against Lye's Jimmy Jones until he received a standing count from the referee who brought the fight to a premature end.

It was more a case of Brazier's body language being negative rather than him being in any trouble, but he will surely learn from this experience.

Sam Jenner was hell bent on revenge with his return clash with Onslow's Lewis Edwards who had outpointed him earlier in the season and, after his usual slow start, completely dominated the Surrey boxer.

He augmented his classic left jab with hooks and body shots and several straight right crosses rocked back Edwards' head and cemented the unanimous decision.

Dan Williamson took an unbeaten run to six with a competent performance and unanimous points victory over St Joseph's Arran Rees.

Although the Welsh boy was taller, it was the Malmesbury boxer's double left jab that paved the road to success and created opportunities for a variety of punches all over the target.

Stylish Luke Stevens gave an impressive display of counterpunching when he took on Onslow's Mark Grant.

The fleet-footed Stevens has modified his style and now finds his range with greater regularity.

Each time Grant pressed forward. he was met with raking jabs and combinations as Stevens effectively used all of the ring to present an elusive target and clinch the decision from all three judges.

Luke's younger brother Clint learned the hard way that there is no substitute for proper preparation when soundly outpointed by Downend's limited but much fitter George Stone.

Stevens was looking weary as early as the end of the first round and, although technically superior than his opponent, did just not have the physical condition to put his abilities to use.

He must now contemplate whether or not he is serious enough about the sport to put in the required gym training and roadwork before entering a boxing ring again.

At the other end of the fitness scale, featherweight Paul Fal-cone has a propensity to overtrain and tends to leave a lot of his sharpness on the roads of his home town of Chippenham.

Consequently, he was unable to keep enough pressure on Lye's Alan Lysaght when attempting to avenge a recent points defeat at the hands of the Midlander.

Falcone did enjoy a measure of success with the double jab and looked good in patches, but too often was outworked at close range where he should have been the most effective against his taller opponent.

It was still a cracking, all- action fight, spoilt only by some booing from Falcone's huge following in the crowd when the decision went against their man.

Falcone sportingly admonished this from the ring and applauded his victor's success.

Middleweight Richard Nelson topped the bill and was in a battle royale with Penhill's Steve Cooney before being stopped with a bad nose-bleed in the final session.

In a hotly contested affair with crunching punches from both fighters, Cooney was guilty on two occasions of punching after the referee had called 'break'.

At the time of the stoppage, Nelson was comfortably ahead on points and it was bad luck that his injury failed to allow him to reach the final bell.