Far Cotton boxer Tee gearing up for national title tilt

Niall Tee pictured with trainer John Daly

The 15-year-old from Duston heads to Guildford for the final stages of the Junior ABA Championship.

He competes in the semi-finals at 46kgs on Saturday and the final is held 24 hours later.

Tee was crowned Junior Development champion earlier this season and he’s on course for another big prize after storming to a quick win in Leicester.

Roman Spencer (Manchester 31) simply couldn’t keep Tee off him and was rescued by the referee in the second round.

“Niall is looking the part,” said coach John Daly.

“He wants it just as much as the Fail twins (Carl and Ben), Nathan Reeve and Ashley Lane wanted it. People were telling me afterwards: ‘You’ve got a good lad there.’”

At the opening bell, Tee was straight down to business.

“Niall got his jab working,” said Daly. “And then he started putting together his combinations.

“He wasn’t rushed, he was nice and tidy and he didn’t smother his work.”

Towards the end of the opening round, the referee stepped in to give Spencer a standing count as the bout became too one sided.

Spencer made it through to the bell, but the end wasn’t far away.

Daly said: “I told Niall: ‘If you add another couple of punches to your combinations you will stop him’” and that’s how it turned out.”

Tee lashed Spencer to body and head until the referee decided Spencer shouldn’t take any more and waved the bout off.

Elsewhere, Far Cotton’s up and coming welterweight Tennyson Egonu travelled to Leicester on Saturday to face Corby Boxing Club’s Alfie Pearce.

From the opening bell, both boxers met in the centre of the ring and were looking to use a sharp left jab to control the contest.

With both boxers having success with the straight right behind the jab, Egonu scored with the cleaner work and made full use of his opportunities up close to land the short hooks to both head and body.

With Pearce looking to force Egonu back onto the ropes, Egonu scored well with the counter right hand, bringing his opponent onto the shot.

The judges favoured Egonu with the split decision on a well-matched bout, with both boxers gaining valuable experience, and a further win for the Far Cotton club.