IN FRONT of a large and knowledgeable crowd, a fantastic night of boxing was held by the Dunston Boxing Club, Newcastle on Friday, when six boxers from the Horseshoe gym on the edge of Swindon won three bouts.

Topping the bill for Horsehoe was Kieran O'Donoghue who took on the vastly-experienced local boy Sean Banks, a former England semi finalist and crowd favourite.

This was not a battle for the faint hearted with both boxers giving no quarter.

After three rounds of toe-to-toe boxing, it was O'Donoghue's superior skills and heart that gave him a well deserved victory.

The first bout of the evening saw George White taken on by J. Eccles of Dunston. After his debut victory last week, a confident White comfortably won the opening round. Building on the opener, White piled on the pressure, stopping his opponent in the second.

Sam Vallis continued the winning spree when getting the better of L. Frances (Leam Lane ABC), who himself was unbeaten in four contests.

Both boxers kept it going for three hard-fought rounds but Vallis was a clear winner thanks to his faster hand speed and quicker feet.

George Richardson boxed well in a bid to keep his very strong opponent, Chris McPherson of Leam Lane BC, at bay. The far more experienced McPherson had to wait until the third round before getting a telling shot away on Richardson, but two late standing counts of eight for the Horseshoe fighter saw him lose out on a split decision.

Coach Mark Brown was nonetheless left speechless by the decision.

Horseshoe had what seemed another poor decision go against them when Gary O'Reilly seemed to dominate a good contest against I Nicholson of Dunston.

Although Nicholson had his moments, O'Reilly looked the far superior boxer and coach Brown again held his head in disbelieve at the split decision victory for the local lad.

Jordan Williams, who also only boxed and won last week, found things tough against the much taller southpaw D. Fail of Dunston ABC, failing to find the power to slow his rival down.

At the end of the evening, the MC called all six Horseshoe boxers back to the ring, where they were given a rousing ovation by the hospitable north east crowd.