BOXING: Brilliant Vaughan bags midlands title

Vaughan won his light-welterweight bout against Scunthorpe’s Jesse Allcock to secure the midlands title.

“We went to box and he (Allcock) came to survive and made things very difficult,” said Kings Heath head coach Arthur Daly.

“But champions find a way to win and Ben did exactly that, with a bit of style in the last round.

“It was very frustrating for him but he is through to the national pre-quarters and got his and the club’s first title this year which ultimately was the objective.”

Vaughan, Eithan James and Nico Leavers now go into Sunday’s pre-quarters against strong Yorkshire opposition at Billborough.

All three have every chance moving into the last eight of the national competition.

James, Leavers and Vaughan have also been invited to an England Selection weekend for the youth Commonwealth Games, to be held in the Bahamas later this year .

Meanwhile, Kings Heath put on a 16-bout show at Irthlingborough Band Club with a new team in sparkling form.

There was a fine victory for light-heavyweight Danny Rose, who produced a knockout in his first bout, against Max Stewart (Cambridge University).

Six debutants were in skills bouts, but five further contests produced wins for Kings Heath.

There were sparkling performances from Lewis Fuller, who outboxed Louis Falvey (Willenhall), Elvis Biddle and Noel Biddle.

Elvis and Noel secured unanimous points wins over Teymour Aslam (St Francis) and Ethann Rowley respectively.

Harvey Fletcher had to come from behind but piled the pressure on with an outstanding last round to secure victory in his bout.

Stephen Smith went down on points in a very close contest in the club’s only loss.

“This show was put together for our inexperienced lads,” Daly said. “It was a good, well-matched show and our boxers did justice to themselves.

“As a team we were delighted with the overall standard that they produced on a challenging day.

“It is onwards and upwards!”

Far Cotton’s Stevens claims silver in Sweden

Laura Stevens came back from the Golden Girl championships in Sweden with a silver medal.

The 27-year-old from Far Cotton ABC missed out on gold in Class A at 69kgs after a points loss to Germany’s Irina Schonberger, but said: “I’m pleased with my performances.

“I had good preparations with (coach) John (Daly) and felt fit and strong throughout.

“I didn’t slow down.

“I was really glad to get two international bouts under my belt. Some of the English girls were drawn against each other, but I got experience from boxing Europeans.

“The German girl in the final was tall, had long arms and was awkward, but I gave it my best shot and it was still a close bout.

“She just edged it on points with her long counter punches.”

Stevens reached the final with a points win over Caterina Marchesini from Italy, a bout she says was “one of the easiest I’ve had for a while.

“She didn’t really have the power to trouble me and that allowed me to carry out my game plan. I felt fit, confident and got the cleaner shots in throughout the bout.”

Stevens hopes to be heading to Canada in April before the start of the Elite championships later that month.

She said: “I met the Canadian champion at a tournament and there’s a chance I could 
be going over there for sparring.

“The Canadian championship start in April and they want tough sparring before it gets underway. That could be next for me.”