Birtley just can’t stop winning.
The Co Durham club struck gold twice at England’s Elite Championship finals today at the York Hall.
Hannah Robinson set the ball rolling in London with victory in the U60 kilo final, with team-mate Ben Rees repeating the feat at U81 kilos.
Sadly for Birtley, there was no clean sweep, with club colleague Isaac Milburn edged out by a split decision in between at U64 kilos.
London was the venue for the showpiece event of the domestic calendar with The University of East London hosting the quarters and semis on Friday and Saturday, with the iconic York Hall in Bethnal Green staging the climax on Sunday.
Robinson was the first of the Tyne, Tees & Wear stars on the big stage, facing United Kingdom Armed Forces boxer, Shanice James.
And Hannah showed no sign of nerves moving nicely in the opener, delivering some well-timed combinations. James landed four good single rights, but the Durham girl produced the brighter work.
James landed some good blows in the second session meaning the third would be decisive.
And Robinson was in sparkling form, moving in and out with more sweet combinations to take a unanimous points decision.
Rees (pictured) clinched his gold via a split decision, though it was hard to see how he did not defeat Pat Allen-Cripps on all the judges’ cards.
The Birtley southpaw was on the front foot from the opening bell, connecting with some sharp combinations. His opponent, from Harwich, did land a couple of decent jabs towards the end of the opener, but the round was Ben’s.
Allen-Cripps got through with a right-left-right to the head in a scrappier round two, but Rees still set the tone, as he did in the third when one aggressive head salvo drove Pat back into the red corner.
There was some surprise when the MC announced the word “split” but the excellent Rees was a deserved winner at light-heavy.
Milburn had come through a split decision to win his semi on Saturday, only to miss out via that method on Sunday against the accomplished Dalton Smith.
Isaac looked lively in the first round only for the Steel City ABC boxer to produce some good work and come back to take victory, but Milburn should be proud of a very worthy silver medal.
Words: Roy Kelly
