St Andrews Sporting Club
Est 1973
April 22nd 2013
For those of you who have never experienced a night at the club I would encapsulate the night by saying the patrons are treated to a feast of fine food, two guest speakers, a guest of honour and a night of boxing after which you may meet and greet the guests at the top table. The Guest of Honour was Amateur Boxing Scotland Chairman Richard Thomas who is a very charismatic man and it was lovely to speak to him.
Just before the boxing is due to start there is preamble fervour of excitement in anticipation amongst the crowd of gentlemen in attendance that is totally unique to the St Andrews Sporting Club.
The first boxers made their way to the ring ‘Gangnam Style’ a song made famous by South Korean musician PSY. It was a 6 x 2 minute round Welterweight contest between debutant Daniel Brady, Motherwell and Jason Nesbitt, Birmingham. Brady made a bright start to the bout working straight punches to the head and body of his opponent, but all of a sudden a solid right staggered him towards the ropes, he recovered well and came back with a good shot of his own. Nesbitt landed a Hefty right to the body and looked more content with taking his man out with one shot. Not long after the bell sounded for round 2 Brady had his man on the canvas with a combination that ended with a thunderous right hand and Nesbitt received the count of eight, he then unleashed a furious variety of punches to which Nesbitt replied with wild swinging hooks where one did rock back the head of Brady. However, Brady was the man in charge by sticking to boxing and trapping his man in the corner and against the ropes. As the bell sounded for the end of the 3rd Nesbitt walked back to his corner grimacing and shaking his head, his right glove was removed and he was gesturing towards his thumb. The referee was left with no alternative but to stop the fight at the end of round 3 and award the contest to Daniel Brady.
Next two boxers to enter the ring were Daniel’s brother and fellow debutant Gerard Brady, Motherwell and Andrew ‘Paddy’ Patterson, Birmingham, in a 6 x 2 minute round Welterweight contest. Southpaw Brady came out working behind a neat right hand jab throwing the more accurate punches, Patterson got through with straight one-two’s and the boxers were mixing it up in the middle of the ring with Brady landing a clean right uppercut that jolted Patterson’s head before the bell rang to end the 1st. Brady worked harder than Patterson in the early stages of the fight but by the 3rd Patterson began to stalk his man bursting Brady’s nose and by the end of the round Brady’s face was reminiscent to that of Henry Cooper when he fought Muhammad Ali due to the amount of blood. Brady boldly fought on landing some good shots but Patterson took the initiative, moving forward like an armoured tank landing some good punches of his own and a hard left hook to finish. Patterson hardly touched his stool and was back on his feet well before the bell rang for the 5th, Brady came out throwing a combination of punches and stuck to boxing his man, Patterson looked very strong landing big shots to the head and body. Patterson piled it on in the last round but there was no way Gerard Brady was going anywhere, he was still landing accurately and there was a good exchange of punches from both boxers before the bell. The referee awarded the contest 59-55 in favour of Andrew Patterson. It was a hard debut fight for Brady who showed great courage to fight on while his vision was impaired.
The final bout of the night was another Welterweight contest between Craig Kelly, Paisley and Kevin McCauley, Brighton who entered the ring to the Marvin Gaye classic ‘I Heard it Through the Grapevine’ in an 8 x 2 minute contest. Referee Kenny Pringle beckoned the boxers to the middle of the ring to touch gloves, told them to protect themselves at all times, listen to his instructions and come out fighting. McCauley looked solid in the 1st round landing to the body and head while Kelly doubled up the jab and edged his way into the fight. There was a good exchange of punches at the start of the 2nd but Kelly was by far the busier man notably catching McCauley with a strong right to the head. Kelly persevered with picking his punches by moving in and out of range while covering up; McCauley landed a strong combination of blows and was using good body movement. McCauley made good headway at the start of the 4th but Kelly came back into it and finished the round well. Kelly was following his man like a shadow but McCauley worked well off the back foot catching Kelly on more than a few occasions. Round 6 was a quiet one for McCauley, Kelly was by far the more active working harder throwing straight punches. It’s only fair to say that from the 7th round onwards both men were getting through equally, it was a tough fight and a hard one to score but Referee Kenny Pringle scored the contest 77-75 in favour of Craig Kelly.
It was another great night at the Home of Scottish Boxing; I had a wee chat with Peter Harrison about Scott’s fight at the weekend and he went on to tell me that they already have a date in mind for another fight.
By Raymond Fraser Buchanan
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