Home >> Main Bill >> Headliners

Six from England Kept Cool. . . for the Gold Rush. Barker, Pickard, Saunders. Degale, McElvaney, Walsh.

England rules

The Motherland of the Commonwealth's under 19 boxers surpassed the capable scrappers from eleven nations in the Commonwealth Youth Games, cornering the gold medals in all six divisions.

In Bendigo City, named after an Englishman, "Bold Bendigo," the under 19 Anglos won each weight from bantamweight to Middleweight. Most of the six look ready already to represent the red cross on white flag of St George at the Commonwealth Games Melbourne in March, 2006.

From Wednesday afternoon and then three nights, it was a well run tournament which brought immense credit on organiser, Scott Hosking and the entire city. Welcome filled the air. The Bendigo motorists even pull up to let pedestrians proceed.

England amateur boxing has lots going for it. A sage chief manager, Ian Irwin, who puts shaping good characters first and talks softly (he had 80 bouts long ago, beat the Olympic rep, Alan Tulloh, twice in five nights, and boxed Johnny Pritchett). An extravert National junior coach, Chris Edmunds who won't let a slack minute pass. A Team doctor, Dr Michael Loosemore - pro reassurance on call.

England boxing gets big sponsorship from the national lottery, though this will be eased back across all sports, because lottery turnover has fallen.

The Bendigo nights heard Australian boxing's announcer Numero Uno, Howard Leigh calling the moves at his colourful best. (An England v Scotland battle, "Civil war for sure.")

If he'd summoned Churchill's declaration that "Never in the field of ring conflict have so many English sportsfans owed so much credit to so few," six boxers, it would not have been an exaggeration.

For England (we believe) never won a multi-nations tournament to nil before, even if twice it beat the United States in every weight.

Bendigo remembered its own boxing figures. Games boxers of old, Brian Cahill (1954), Des Duguid (1954/60), Bill Fry (1966) and Lynden Hosking (1996) stepped up into the ring lights to present medals.

Whipper Walsh

England bantamweight (54 kg), Liam Walsh learned boxing the hard way, against tough opposition. He lost 10 out of 29 before representing his country in Bendigo. Walsh overcame Australia's tall Davey Browne in the semi, and here in the final he dominated Jason Hastie of Scotland.
Liam crashed in curving rights and switched right foot forward to load his left under.

Walsh was winner by rsco3, 30 points to 10. "Land of Hope and Glory" sounded triumphantly. Liam thanked Heaven three times crossing himself. His brother from Cromer, Norfolk told us: "Liam started out fighting the best, he lost those 10 early on."

Feathers get furious

The featherweights, James McElvaney, England and Joel Brunker, Australia began their final cautiously. At half a minute the referee gestured: Start throwing punches.

So they did and the stand-off turned into a terrific exchange of heavy punches.

McElvaney, two fisted southpaw from Durham, North East England, flung himself against a Richmond, NSW opponent ever ready to launch his own attacks.
It was the highest scoring match of the night, a close match, and - absurdly - the computer clickers somehow arrived at 54-24 to the Englander.

A shoulder slam

David Appleby was introduced, crossing his forearms diagonally like the whites on blue of the flag of Scotland.
His lightweight (60 kg) final opponent was the "amateur Naseem Hamed," Gary Barker of England.
Appleby drilled straight rights to the head past Barker's pawing right. Barker used his second showy asset, side-stepping, more effectively. And when the ruffled Scot charged, Barker ducked, got him across his shoulders, lifted the Scot and deliberately hurled him to the mat, winded.

The English referee (later we were told some unintelligible hence unanswerable reason why an English referee handled this bout when there were plenty of Aussie refs in the ticket), this English referee failed even to caution the English boxer.

The crowd turned ugly on Barker. "Scot-land, uh uh uh" filled the interval.

Appleby landed some body hits, Barker fiendishly sidestepped and sniped him. The points decision to Barker, 28-19, was booed . . the only booing of the night.

This curly head Barker seems to have Anthony Mundine's knack of riling audiences. He could become a big attraction for that (like young Cassius Clay).

Wraps of St George

Before the light-welterweight (64 kg) final, England's Bradley Saunders talked about his semi-final win over Mike Hatwell of Canberra AIS: Brad has stopped 36 opponents with hits like that " .. but Hatwell wouldn't give up."
The World Youth Titles in Korea saw Brad win two bouts and a bronze when a Cuban beat him by a point.
Hatwell had a bruised eye and refused Bodo Andreass' offer to retire him after three rounds.

At first, Saunders leaned back against the tall Irishman, Patrick Murphy. A burst near end of round, including a corker right uppercut under the chin, tied the opening round.

Heavy blows gradually took the initiative away from the Irish six-footer, who'd had strenuous wins over a South African and a Scotsman. The Pacific referee also intervened a lot in this clean, hard match.

Saunders won 33-12, and wrapped round his shoulders the England flag, the red cross on white of St George, to hear once again the "Land of Hope and Glory" boom out.

'You can't call from there'

New Zealand's best man at Bendigo, Joey Blackbourn ran England's Ryan Pickard from the Repton Club in London close in the welterweight (69 kg) final. The Kiwi tall boy landed varied shots - right uppercut, solar plexus, straight left, straight right - in the opener.

World silver medallist Pickard became more active as the bout ran.

Referee Wayne Rose, not content with keeping control in the ring, heard, over the roar of the crowd, England manager Ian Irwin calling advice from the warm-up stall fifty metres away. Rose ordered Irwin back to the corner where Chris Edmunds was minding the fort.

Pickard took the bout 30-23 . . and Irwin returned to pad punching with James Degale, before leading that England middleweight out for the last final.

Degale sweeps Shack

We see them stand like greyhounds in the slips
- Shakespeare's image lived. James Degale and Omar Shaick, separated by a thin partition leaned forward side by side, eyes fixed on the ring.

The loudspeakers played "I come from a land Down Under" to double the adrenaline rush in Omar Shaick from the Logan Gym in Brisbane, for his struggle with Degale, England's international from North London.

Both were southpaws.

The two-handed Englander had a right hook that percussed on the jaw of the shorter Omar. Shaick won his Australian rep spot with three big victories; but he looked made to order for Degale, a deadly performer. (He reminded Howard Leigh of Audley Harrison and made Joe Bridges think of "Randolph Turpin, mirror-image").

The referee put a standing 8 on Omar. Shaick got his left hand up to his cheek to block that right cutlass and began to retaliate with right hooks of his own.

The much bigger Brit won it on the whistle, Rsco 3 (Referee Stopped Contest, Outscored, in round three), 27 points to 7.

PRESS BOX.

No show is perfect. FOL hasn't gone to mush, so . .

* The program, reprinted before each session, still had the 64 kg light-welterweights billed as 63.5 on the final night. And the 69 kg welterweights printed as 71 kg on the final night, though Howard Leigh corrected these cadet misnomers 24 hours before then.

• Referees continued to let the boxers clean their own gloves after they touched canvas. As usual the boxers only touched the tips of the gloves on their singlets.
When will the seagull set put a cleaning cloth in the referee's pocket - copy the lawn bowls players at these Games?

• With stirring national flags go inspirational national singlets. The red on white; the navy blue on white; the all blacks; our own green and gold.

Are the men at the computers incapable of telling one corner from the other unless two opponents are entirely dyed, helmet, singlet, shorts and gloves, in all blue, or all red?

Why not reinforce the coloured gloves with red helmets versus blue. And red shorts versus blue if the judges can not manage to distinguish by eye?

Surely the national colours can survive on the vests?

A Spectacular Gallery of Great Bendigo Week
By Cameraman KID KALIN
----------In Fighter Online Tomorrow----------