LAUNCESTON Amateur Boxing Club held their home show in the White Hart Hotel on Saturday, December 2, in front of a very appreciative audience of well over 200.

Clubs from around England converged at the show to produce 16 action-packed contests, including a number of fighters from Launceston and Bude.

Unfortunately the club’s two national champions, Callum Charnock (15) and Luther Clayton (15), found themselves supporting, following the late withdrawals of their opponents.

First up for Launceston saw 15-year-old Trystan Gwennap face Brandon Robson (14) from Carl’s Boxing Stable (CBS) in Plymouth in a 3 x1 minute round skills contest. Trystan elected to box at long range on the back foot against his shorter but more aggressive and come forward opponent. Trystan kept himself safe connecting with very accurate jabs and right crosses and great footwork to the final bell. Both boxers were declared winners in a skills contest.

Younger brother, Tresillian Gwennap (12) was next up and faced Leo Searle (12) of Relentless ABC in Penzance in their first competitive contest.

The home fighter, who uses a southpaw stance, took control of the centre of the ring and adopted the ’make him miss and make him pay’ discipline, landing a jab, laying back from the counter of his opponent and then connecting with an effective straight one-two combination. Searle battled back hard but struggled to find a way through Gwennap’s defence. Gwennap’s skills and fitness saw him box his way to his first win with a unanimous points decision.

Next up for Launceston saw Brandon Charnock (14) square up with Plymouth’s Tom Reilly (14) from CBS. The Launceston boy set off to please the audience by setting a fast pace — opening up with fast jabs and left hooks to body and head.

Reilly was weathering the storm and kept himself in the battle; firing back with big hooks of his own as Brandon pushed hard to the end the first-round.

The second bell saw Charnock continue to push the pace behind his left hand but ran completely out of steam into the first half of the round. The Plymouth boxer capitalised and started to unload to body and head with no return and so the Launceston corner threw in the towel to save their boxer for another day.

Following a five-year break from the sport, Launceston’s Ryan Cook (23) made his return to the ring against Kesar Singh (24) from Emeralds Boxing Club in Chippenham.

The Launceston southpaw had his work cut out to get past the reach of the very tall and elusive Singh.

Cook continued to push the pace and elected to work the body first and finish with the head, which seemed to be effective.

Singh countered back with very accurate jabs keeping the contest very close to make life difficult for the judges.

Cook had to dig deep and battle hard to try and gain the upperhand but Singh matched fire with fire until the final bell.

There was nothing to split the boxers and so the decision was left to the judges, who declared Cook the winner with a majority points decision.

The final bout of the evening saw Altarnun’s Sam Smith make his return to the sport following a three-year break where he faced the experienced Nick Miller (37) from CBS in Plymouth in a three-round middleweight contest.

From the first bell, the taller Launceston boxer unleashed thunderous bombs connecting with fierce looking head and body shots.

Smith connected with a huge right hook midway through the first round forcing a standing eight count.

Miller proved to be extremely tough and battled back hard to keep himself in the contest but Smith never let up, throwing everything with bad intentions connecting with a mighty uppercut to Miller’s chin in the second-round forcing another standing eight count.

Again, Miller showed his resilience and refused to give up. But Smith continued with his vicious and powerful punching to the final bell as he was awarded a unanimous points decision.

The ‘Best Junior Bout’ was chosen by the ringside doctor Peter Jackson, who awarded it to Tresillian Gwennap and Leo Searle for their thrilling contest, while the ‘Best Senior Bout’ was chosen by the officer in charge of the evening, Nigel Westren. Mr Westren awarded it to Sam Smith and the incredibly tough, Nick Miller.

Launceston ABC’s trainer and organiser of the evening, Des Charnock, said: “There were so many close fought contests that could have gone either way, hence all the majorities verdicts where there was only one or two points either way.

“I’d also like to say a massive thank you to the Launceston public who once again made the occasion very special for all the boxers.”