It’s unfair to single out any of the Scottish Youth Team taking part in the Great Britain Youth Championships in Swansea this weekend but I’ve known Brodie since he walked into a boxing gym several years ago.

It’s been a magnificent season for the 17 year old plasterer who fights out of Craigmillar ABC under the guidance of trainers Kenny McCartney and Colin McCourt, “Kenny has really brought me on as a boxer; he keeps pushing me to the limit”, said Brodie, he regularly spars with club mate Jason Easton who picked up a Silver Medal in the Scottish seniors losing narrowly to Scottish and British Champion Lewis Benson in the 64kg weight category.  Brodie has done the treble this season by winning the Eastern Districts youth Title, the Scottish Youth Title and now he’s picked up the Great Britain Youth Title yesterday in Wales. 

Brodie fought a Welsh opponent in the semi finals and after two counts the referee stopped the contest in the 2nd round. Onwards to the final, Brodie came up against a tough Englishman and at the final bell the scores were 20-20, Brodie won on a count back of 63-47, taking into account he was deducted 2 points twice by the referee in the last round he still come out on top, “It feels like a dream”, that’s the only way Brodie could describe his achievement.    

Brodie fights at 69kg in the Welterweight division and for boxers born in the year 1995 Brodie was the only Edinburgh fighter to have won the Scottish Title, now he’s won the British Title.

On the 19th of June Brodie is off to Brandenburg with the Scottish Team for the Germany Cup and I leave the last word to him, “It’s been a long fantastic season but I’m prepared to do anything to progress”.  

By Raymond Fraser Buchanan

Below is a list of the final day results

Bout 1 – David Burrell (Sco) beat Andrew Cainv(Eng) 17 – 13

Bout 2 – Mohammed Ali (Eng) beat Stephen Boyle (Sco) 23 – 11

Bout 3 – Ukasha Farooq (Sco) beat Billy Edwards 14 4

Bout 4 – Sahir Iqbal (Eng) beat Andrew Tham (Sco) RSC

Bout 5 – Danny Wright (Eng) beat Igor Slwinski (Sco) 27 – 10

Bout 7 – Paul Lowther (Sco) beat Ben Bendal (Eng) 12 – 9

Bout 9 – Connal McDonald (Sco) beat Billy Lee (Eng) 10-9

Bout 10 – Harvey Horn (Eng) beat Jack Turner (Sco) 12 – 8

Bout 12 – Pat McCormack (Eng) beat Connor Hyslop (Sco) 21 – 3

Bout 13 – Ted Cheeseman (Eng) beat Sam Ball (Sco) 26 - 20

Bout 14 – Brodie Robertson (Sco) beat Yachia Chelli (Eng) 63 -47 COUNTBACK

Bout 15 – Lewis Emonson (Eng) beat Robert Harkin (Sco) 18 – 4

Daniel Fairweather and Jordan McShane won Bronze Medals.

As you can see from the above, Scotland won 5 Gold Medals, 7 Silver and 2 Bronze. These young boys will be prospects to look out for as seniors next season, Scottish boxing is looking healthy.

The Great Britain Schoolboy Finals took place at Ravenscraig, Motherwell in Scotland over two days 26th and 27th April.

Demographically speaking England is 10 times the size of Scotland; there are around 3 Million more people live in London than the entire of Scotland with the deficit being the size of Wales. There are more boxing clubs in London than the whole of Scotland.

Regarding the Scottish boxers, they produced a monumental endeavour in their quest for glory; from all that is within, these young boys unleashed a spirit and desire to seize the day.

Scotland Gold medal winners

Boxers born in the year born 2000

38kg Title was between two Scottish boys seeing off Welsh and English opponents between Craig Penrice and Billy McPhee who utilized good accurate counter punching but with the score tied at 5-5 it had to go to count back and the announcer read out the verdict 30-27 in favour of Craig Penrice.

46kg Title was also contested by two Scottish boxers who were victorious against Welsh and English opposition between Ethan Cowie and Jay Dickie who caught my eye in the semi-finals against an English opponent; he fought with his hands down landing effective shots from the hips. He duplicated his awkward style in the final and the verdict was 8-5 in favour of Jay Dickie.

48kg Title was between Gregory Lunt, England and Stephen McKenna, Scotland - With Lunt getting a bye into the final McKenna won on count back against a tough Welsh opponent in the semi-final. McKenna excelled himself in the final, the solid southpaw deployed a good shape displaying some cracking rear hand straight lefts and the verdict was 13-6 in favour of Stephen McKenna.

57kg Title was between Tye Davies, England and Lewis John Johnstone, Scotland - who received a bye into the final. Southpaw Johnstone impressed with a long range display in which he upped his game in the last round and the verdict was 16-12 in favour of Lewis Johnstone.  

Boxers born in the year 1999

34kg Title was between Ibrahim Nadeem, England and Anthony Morton, Scotland who was by far the smaller man who operated smooth lovely boxing and a higher work rate especially in the last round, the verdict was 13-7 in favour of Anthony Morton.

44kg Title was between Mark Dickenson, England and Jack Stevenson, Scotland - who narrowly beat a welsh opponent in the semi-finals. Stevenson was giving away reach and height advantage but applied a bighearted, rhythmic counterpunching display and the verdict was 9-7 in favour of Jack Stevenson.

50kg Title was between Nathan Shaw, Scotland and Dean Morgan Scotland who dispatched boxers from Wales and England in the semi-finals. Shaw looked a strong kid who was up on his toes with good posture and showed fast hands, the verdict on the fight was 15-13 in favour of Nathan Shaw.

54kg Title was between Jimmy Roe, England and Craig Morgan, Scotland who outpointed a good Welsh opponent in the semi-finals. With an effective fluent style Morgan looked sharp as a razor, lovely lower body, he looked classy and confident and the verdict was 12-4 in favour of Craig Morgan.  

60kg Title was between Roman Haidari, England and Tyler Jolly, Scotland – who overwhelmed his Welsh opponent in the semi-finals with trim footwork, mobility and strength. Hard work and precise punching was the key to success in the final and the verdict was 14-13 in favour of Tyler Jolly.

66kg Title was between Reece Amir, England and Jonlee Joyce, Scotland – who received a bye into the final. Hard punching Joyce was resilient and relentless in coming forward and the verdict was 13-5 in favour of Jonlee Joyce.

The aforementioned boxers were the 10 Gold medal winners for Scotland and although some other Scottish boxers came close I’d have to give a mention to Scotland’s Ryan ball that drew with his English opponent but got beat on the count back. Ryan is an effective switch hitter who took the decision like a true sportsman.

It’s only fair to give a special mention to a young English boxer Rakin Tatou who caught my eye straight away on the first day with a style of boxing I could only compare to that of Olympic Cuban Flyweight Champion Robeisy Carrazana Ramirez, the kid had everything.

Below is a list of the other final day results.

Born in the year 2000

30kg John Lee, England beat Logan McKay, Scotland 16-2

32kg Adam Hussein, England beat M Fisher, Wales 14-4

34kg Rakin Tatou, England beat Jamie McLean, Scotland RSC 2nd

36kg Ibrahim Sulaiman, England beat Robbie White, Scotland RSC 2nd

40kg Jamal Khan, England beat Tony Orr, Scotland RSC 3rd

42kg I Farrer, Wales beat Clyton Orchard, England 9-7

44kg James McMeekin, England beat R Edwards, Wales 22-8

50kg John Johnstone, England beat Connor Jones, wales RSC 1st  

60kg Jake callingham, England beat Ryan Owen, Wales 25-11

Born in the year 1999

36kg Charles Frankham, England beat Taylor McGregor, Scotland 14-9

38kg Sonny Ali, England beat Bradley Moultree, Scotland 17-11

40kg Ben Marksby beat Peter McPhee, Scotland 9-7

42kg Peter Smith, England drew on points with Ryan Ball, Scotland but won on count back 43-40

46kg Sam Pemberton, England beat Aiden Dougan, Scotland 9-7

48kg Jason Foster, England beat Adam Burke, Scotland 12-6

52kg Kieran Sutton, England beat D Williams, Wales 22-9

57kg Levi Lee, England beat Frankie Strinati, Wales 13-3

Total Gold medal haul, England 16 Scotland 10 Wales 1

The GB Schoolboy Championships were a huge success and an epitome of how well organized Amateur Boxing Scotland are.

By Raymond Fraser Buchanan

  

There lays a wee sleepy hillside village called Chirnside in the borders of Scotland that’s situated roughly about eight miles from the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed just off the A1 that connects the capital of Scotland, Edinburgh with the capital of England, London and at 410 miles long it’s the longest road in the United Kingdom. There are a lot of people in Scotland that have never heard of the place, if you are travelling down the A1 you only have to blink to miss the sign. I was in my late teens before I knew the place existed; coincidently it was only through boxing in the 1980’s and back then it was more or less just a street with a small shop. The village has not changed that much since then and neither has their love for boxing.

Ian Duff drummed up an interest in forming a club in the village way back in 1979 because the nearest club was Dunbar almost 20 miles away and this was not a viable option. Ian and his friend Jimmy Blakie spoke with a local man Eric Hunter who had previously boxed for Edinburgh’s Sparta in his youth, a club that was made World Famous by Legendary boxer Ken Buchanan. They approached the local minister seeking permission to use the old church for the birth of Chirnside ABC, their request was granted on the condition the premises would be used as a community centre that would include and provide the community in its entirety. The pulpit and rows of seats had to be removed and a fair bit of work had to be done to achieve such a notion. They only had three punch bags and a cracking boxing ring. The atmosphere was tremendous at a Chirnside ABC show back in the day but it was greatly overshadowed by the home bakery and snacks that were provided by the club coach Eric Hunter’s wife Jean who was that talented with her home bakery if she were still in the business today she would put Krispy Kreme out the box.

The original club folded at the start of the Millennium in the year 2000. It was eight long years before talk began of re-starting the club but only one man’s actions spoke louder than words. Michael Black had boxed for the old club and won four Eastern District Junior titles and four Scottish Junior Titles back to back, and he boxed for Scotland 5 times as a junior and twice as a senior. He held a few coffee mornings that raised over £300 a time, this provided the basic essentials for a new club to start but they needed a boxing ring and not just any ring, it had to be a dismountable one so with the help of former boxer Martin Wood who worked for local firm John Thorburn & sons, Duns, he provided the club with four steel sleeves that could be fixed into the wooden floor and four steel removable poles all courtesy of the company, then it was just a matter of tensioning the ropes. However, Martin’s welding skill’s enabled him to weld brackets onto two of the poles that provided the use of four extra punch bags to go along with another five that hung from beams underneath the balcony. The club were affiliated in 2010 and sadly the old club coach Eric Hunter had passed away so along with becoming Chairman and coach Michael made a comeback to help get the name Chirnside ABC get back on the map. The last three years has been a steep learning curve and for a tiny village in the borders of Scotland to compete at District level against Places like Edinburgh, the Lothian’s, Fife and at National level against the whole of Scotland. Ben Grant has won Scottish Title’s at Novice and Intermediate level, Robbie White won the Scottish Junior Title in 2012 and is the current Eastern District 36kg Junior Champion, both Robbie White and Lewis Noon recently picked up silver medals in the Scottish Schoolboy Championships that took place last month and are currently training with the Scotland Squad hoping to make the British Finals. It’s an immense achievement that this village can contend with the whole of Scotland and even more astonishing the amount of miles they travel to compete.  They have travelled past Aberdeen as far north as Macduff in the north east of Scotland; they have crossed the breadth of Scotland to Dumfries and been all over the Central belt of Scotland including Edinburgh and Glasgow. It took the club 5 hours to travel to Macduff, they would have took less time going to London.  

The club initially were given £1000 by Robin Lees who owns the local Robins Nest Hotel and Robin continues to sponsor the club. The club now has people coming from Berwick, Duns, Eyemouth and Coldstream, they can expect up to 30 boys a night. Michael could not do this on his own; he has the help of Vaughan Duff (Ian Duff’s Nephew) Martin Wood, Malcolm Renton and Michael Blakie who are also trainers at the club. In the near future he plans to invade England but on Sunday 21st April Chirnside ABC will be holding their first home show in 20 years at the neighbouring Town of Duns.

There is a burning boxing eternal flame that burns away in Michael’s belly; he really is a man on fire.

If you are interested in joining the club or attending the show you can contact Michael Black on Facebook or e-mail james00sky.com

On Friday 29th March 2013 at Meadowbank, Edinburgh, Amateur Boxing Scotland held the Scottish Senior Championship finals.


Before the show started I was in the VIP room having a wee catch up and a fresh orange with my old friend Dick McTaggart M.B.E. and my dad was there briefly but due to a phone call had to leave, it was great listening to them both talking with great fondness about their amateur days. I brought up the subject on how they used to do exhibitions with each other due to the fact nobody would fight them, my dad said to Dick, “ Aye, a stopped doing exhibitions with you because you were always spitting water on me”, Dick could not contain his laughter. I got someone to take a picture of me standing between arguably Britain’s best amateur and professional boxers. After my dad left Dick went on to tell me more than a few stories about when they were great friends fighting for Scotland. He told me when he and my dad won their respective British Amateur Title’s, five Scotsmen in total won British Titles that night, you don’t see that kind of thing happening these days. He continued, when my dad won the Bronze Medal in the European Championships in Berlin, losing to eventual winner and current Olympic Champion Stanislav Stepashkin, Dick conceded he never got in the medals, he went on to say he never did well behind the Iron Curtain. Dick really opened my eyes when he told me he fought at the Olympics in Rome 1960 winning a Bronze, where a fellow Olympian Cassius Marcellus Clay won Gold and in Dicks opinion Clay should have won the Val Baker award for the best boxer , he’s  better known as Muhammad Ali. Dick had won that award four years earlier at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

I walked into the Meadowbank boxing arena with Dick, shaking hands with a few of the boxers then I got shown my way to a ringside seat. It looked like a capacity crowd; you could feel the excitement from the crowd in anticipation of the glorious night that lay ahead.

52kg    Liban Elmi, Glasgow Phoenix V Ryan McCutcheon, Clovenstone.

Elmi was by far the taller man and with a much greater reach advantage, his tactics were obviously to keep McCutcheon right on the end of his jab and combinations, however, Ryan McCutcheon was a fast, slick mover getting inside his man with some accurate punches, he moved around the ring as sharp and gracefully as a young Kenny Buchanan. There was not much between the men after two rounds then McCutcheon stepped up a few gears and moved that fast it looked like he was going to set the canvas on fire, he was a very clever boxer  throwing punches at will and dominated the last round. The judges scored the contest 13-8 in favour of Ryan McCutcheon. It was McCutcheon’s first year in the seniors and he won the District Title and Scottish Title at the first time of asking.

56kg   Joe Ham, Hayfield V Kevin Skey, Lochend.

Kevin Skey squared up to a formidable opponent in Joe Ham. Skey was working away to the body along with straight punches to the head, Ham came back with a variety of punches and it looked like a very even contest. As the fight progressed Skey dug deep and stuck to his game plan while Ham looked comfortable dancing around with loose arms matching his man in every department. After the first two rounds it was equal on the scorecards so it was down to the last round. Ham put the foot on the pedal and clearly out boxed Skey in the final round. Skey returned to his corner shaking his head. The judges scored the contest 18-11 in favour of Joe Ham.

60kg   Robbie McKechnie, Greenock V Charlie Flynn, Glasgow Phoenix.

On paper, this fight had the makings of a good fight but fights are not fought on paper and it turned out to be the Charlie Flynn show. Flynn, using a very stand-up stance throwing shots to the head and body never took a backward step; the 19 year old boy really caught my eye as he seemed to wear his opponent down from the opening bell. McKechnie received two standing counts in the 2nd courtesy of a straight right and a left hook and in the 3rd round Flynn threw a devastating punch that left the referee with no choice but to stop the fight in the last round. Charlie Flynn wins by stoppage in the 3rd round.

64kg   Jason Easton, Craigmillar V Lewis Benson, Lochend.

Two local boys were next into the ring and the atmosphere was electric, the noise level had cranked up that much you could hardly hear yourself think. Easton was getting through with big right hands to the head while Benson was cleverly working to the head and body with his superior reach advantage. It was fireworks in the 2nd round, at one point Easton threw a solid right hand catching Benson clean on the head and for that moment I got the impression Benson was aware he was close to the ropes because he fell back using the ropes to launch himself into a counter attack. Easton had been slightly ahead on points after each of the first two rounds but midway through the last round Benson found that little bit extra and more importantly his punches were connecting with everything he did. After a very good contest the referee scored the contest 16-14 in favour of Lewis Benson.

69kg   Connor Law, Glenrothes V Don Brown, Greenock.

The both boys were southpaws which is something rare to see. This fight was all about Connor Law, he dominated the fight from the opening bell using good body movement that allowed him to throw clean accurate punches that were getting through the defence of Brown. Brown did have some success to a certain extent but Connor Law was by far the cleverer boxer, picking his man off with neat solid punches that reflected in the scoring after each round. In the 3rd round Law caught his man with a big left hook and Brown did well to stay on his feet. The referee scored the contest 17-5 in favour of Connor Law.

75kg   Kieran Smith, Springhill V Aston Brown, Lochend.

Aston Brown had recently made the Great Britain Podium Boxing Team and had fought for the British Lionhearts over 5 rounds of boxing using the professional scoring system against a tough Mexico Guerreros. Aston had fought his way through the Scottish Championships and would have easily been excused for not fighting in the Scottish Finals but this man is proud to be Scottish and endeavoured to achieve his goal. Both boxers put up a good show throwing some heavy leather. Brown looked very strong but it was a hard one to predict. The referee scored the contest 12-11 in favour of Aston Brown.

81kg   Scott Forrest, Springhill V Jack Knorz, Byron.

Knorz came out looking cagey but Scott Forrest looked well up for the job. After Forrest launched into a two handed attack Knorz seemed to turn his back and the referee immediately went into a standing 8 count. During the second round Knorz got a public warning for bending over followed by another standing 8 count from a body shot. It was beginning to look like a very one sided contest. It was remarkable Knorz came out for the 3rd. After another standing count in the last round the writing was on the wall, however, the fight commenced but after a second standing count in the last round Knorz corner threw the towel in and the referee immediately stopped the contest in the 3rd round. Scott Forrest wins by stoppage in the 3rd round.

91kg   Michael Warner, Springhill  V Steven Stephen Lavelle, Hayfield.

This was a pretty even contest; both boxers were trying to land clean shots but were doing a good job covering up. I had Lavelle marginally ahead after the first round but the scorecard had Warner in front. There was a lot of tying up, blocking and holding in this contest but I still felt Lavelle was landing the cleaner shots, he landed a good left hook before the bell but the scorecard after the second round still had Warner in front. Lavelle did step up his work rate in the last round and the referee scored the contest 9-8 in favour of Stephen Lavelle.

91+kg   Ross Henderson, Springhill V Daniel Gollan, Heriot Watt.

Ross Henderson is a giant of a man who towered above his opponent Daniel Gollan. Henderson worked behind a good jab in the first round while Gollan had to slip underneath to counter and by the end of the first Henderson was bringing in the straight left-right whereas Gollan looked like he was struggling to get through against man mountain Henderson. In the 2nd Henderson was persevering with straights to the head and left screw shots that were not accomplishing the desired effect, Gollan slipped left and right throwing angled shots. In the last round Henderson was putting his punches together and landing with dramatic effect, he hit Gollan with a blistering body shot that could almost be felt sitting in the fourth row. The referee scored the contest 17-11 in favour of Ross Henderson.

Amateur Boxing Scotland not only put on a good show, it was well organised. Dick McTaggart received a lifetime achievement award for his dedication and commitment to amateur boxing. And using the old cliché the official announcer said “every one of the boys that took part in the finals are all winners”.

By Raymond Fraser Buchanan

Brodie Wins Gold

It would be unfair to single out any boy in the Scottish Youth Championship Finals. However, I was laid up with a cold on Friday night but I managed to exchange a few words with Brodie Robertson. I first met Brodie six years ago while I was training future Olympian Josh Taylor and we have kept in contact through social networking. 


The transformation in Brodie since back then has been nothing short of sensational; he works as an apprentice plasterer by day and dedicates almost all his spare time to boxing. I asked Brodie how the fight went, he said, “It was a bit scrappy eh, it was one of those fights where you just had to dig deep and win. My determination and hunger took over to win the title” . It’s a credit to Brodie’s hard work, focus and dedication that he is where he is today but this would not be possible without the help and guidance of the true unsung heroes behind him, Kenny Cartney and Colin McCourt, who are the trainers at his club Craigmillar ABC. 

It was going into the wee hours of Saturday morning when I asked Brodie what it felt like to be the new Scottish Youth Champion at 69kg, he replied, “It’s not sunk in yet”, he said with a laugh, “Feels like I’m still dreaming”.

By Raymond Fraser Buchanan

 2013 ABS Scottish Championships – Youth Final results

ABS is pleased to bring you the latest results from its 2013 Scottish Championships with the latest results from its 2013 Senior Championship preliminaries.

Bout 1 – 1996 Born 52kg – Stephen Boyle (Dennistoun McNair) beat Ryan Mullen (Forgewood) 12-4

Bout 2 – 1996 Born 56kg – Ukasha Farooq (Glasgow East) beat Nathaniel Collins (Bellahouston) 11-8

Bout 3 – 1996 Born 60kg – Aidan McGlynn (The Barn ) beat Andrew Tham (Broadwood) 16-6

Bout 4 – 1996 Born 64kg – Igor Sliwinski (Lochaber Phoenix) beat Jordan McShane (Irvine Vineburgh) 14-13

Bout 5 – 1996 Born 69kg – Jordan McShane (Cambusnethan) beat Gabriel Dover (Kelvin) 12-4

Bout 6 – 1995 Born 49kg – Jack Turner (Hayfield) beat Scott Cummins (Bellahouston) 12-9

Bout 7 – 1995 Born 56kg – Daniel Fairweather (Lochee) beat Gary Ducie (O’Neils) 12-11

Bout 8 – 1995 Born 60kg – Connor Hyslop (Dennistoun McNair) beat Connor McGregor (Clovenstone) KO

Bout 9 – 1995 Born 64kg – Sam Ball (Greenock) beat Dominic Nye (Viewpark) 15-3

Bout 10 – 1995 Born 69kg – Brodie Robertson (Craigmillar) beat Wulliam MacDonald (Denbeath) 12-7

Bout 11 – 1995 Born 75kg – Robert Harkin (Clydebank) beat Shaun Daisley (Larkfield) 13-7

The official results were obtained from Amateur Boxing Scotland.