Carlisle Villa Amateur Boxing Club staged an entertaining show which saw 16 well-contested bouts at a packed Halston Hotel.

The evening in Carlisle last Saturday saw the host club claim nine wins from 13 scoring bouts, with three non-scoring skills contests also on show.

The evening started with the non-scoring skills bouts featuring Villa’s Ruby English, Cem Akendeniz and Lee Craik. Their opponents were Hiraan Akram (Hamer Boxing Club),Henry Dale (Whitby) and Azzan Hussain (Hamer Boxing Club).

In the first scoring contest 11-year-old Danny Salisbury got the Currock club off to a good start with a great win against the very well-schooled Finn Horan (Billinghan Boxing Club). His nonstop work-rate earned him a well-deserved split decision points win.

Galashiels boxer Mason Maycock faced Villa’s Ollie Jemilijanovas in bout number five – Ollie started slowly but stepped it up in the second and took control of the centre of the ring, countering with nice straight one-two combinations. Ollie finished on the front foot, pushing forward in the third and winning the contest by unanimous decision.

Callum Routledge was up next for the home club and took too much time to work out the style of Bronson Butt who was representing Darlington’s PA Boxing Academy.

Losing the first round, Callum picked it up in the second and contested the final round well but unfortunately went down to a unanimous decision loss.

Villa’s 14-year-old Ronnie Ralph was up against old foe Layton Pennock (North Star ABC, Sunderland). Having one win apiece, both were up for the bout and earn the bragging rights – as expected, it was a cagey opening round with both knowing each other’s style quite well.

Ronnie landed a sharp right hand which put him on the front foot and set out the theme of the bout. Pennock replied with a number of counters but did not do enough to persuade all three judges to go against Ronnie, who picked up a well-deserved split decision win.

Jayden Carruthers was hoping to put a run of recent defeats behind him and started well, his opponent Mason Stanthorpe (Whitby) tried to engage but was a bit off the pace. Jayden went on to build on a good first round, also taking the second and the third rounds. This earned a unanimous points win.

Junior boxer Watson Miller was next into the ring in a contest against Thomas Muer (North Star). Two tall boxers both tried to utilise their long reach, cancelling each other out on numerous occasions with none able to take control of the bout.

A change of attack from Sunderland’s Muer had some success in the second, when some solid body shots were clean and effective. Watson rallied but could not respond with enough punches to have any influence on the judge, going down to a split decision loss.

Younger brother Johnpaul Miller followed Watson for bout number ten against Sufyan Abubaker (Wellington ABC, Middlesbrough). Johnpaul gave his opponent too much respect and left it far too late to change the outcome, going down to a unanimous points defeat.

Youth boxer Jack Lindsey got the Villa back to winning ways with a solid display against Kiel Callaghan (North Star), taking control from the first bell and continuing to the last picking up a unanimous points win.

After a short interval in proceedings bout number 12 was another to and fro contest featuring Villa’s Henry Richardson who was up against Moss Side Fire Station's Sufyan Abubakar. But the Villa boxer did more than enough to get the nod by unanimous decision.

James Maughan was up to avenge an earlier career defeat against Emre Ozby (New Welfare, Hartlepool). James started strongly landing some good accurate double jabs to the head.

James never let Ozby settle and continued to throw punches in bunches in all three rounds, taking the bout by a unanimous decision in a great display of pressure boxing.

First senior contest of the evening saw Tom Osbourne, matched against another Manchester opponent in Alex Bergin (Moss Side FS). Both boxers competed well in all three rounds but it was Tom who got the nod, winning by split decision.

Chara Rueangprat was involved in a great contest with Brandon Boxing Club’s Liam Daly, Both had success in a well fought first round with neither wanting to take a backward step. A cut opened up over the eye of Daly in the second round but the doctor allowed the bout to continue.

Both boxers gave their all until the bell sounded to end the second round with Chara just edging it.

This was great entertainment for the packed out Halston who created a fantastic atmosphere. Chara started the third well landing some power right hands over the top opened up the cut further. To prevent further damage this time the Doctor waved the bout off, resulting in the bout being awarded to Chara by RSC injury.

A good crowd-pleasing bout brought the evening to a close with David Quinn and Harry Martin (Eccles Boxing Academy) putting on a great display of boxing in a well contested 3 x 3 minute contest. Both boxers leaving everything in the ring. Martin just edging out the game Quinn by a close split decision.

The evening’s award winners were as follows:

Best schoolboy – Danny Salisbury

Best junior – James Maughan

Best youth/senior and Andrew Charters memorial shield winner – Char Rueangprat

Best bout of the evening – David Quinn v Harry Martin (Eccles BA)

Best away boxer – Liam Daly (Brandon Boxing Club)

Thanks to Jimmy Brennan from Carlisle Villa ABC for the report