HBA boxers lined up for action in England
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SEVERAL of Highland Boxing Academy’s top talents will form two select squads to go on the road and box in England.
Collectively, the five boxers involved have won 12 titles and will now travel to the south of the country to take on unfamiliar competitors.
Next month, Darrell Russell and Lewis Urquhart, of Dingwall, go to the Sheraton Grand Hotel in Mayfair London to take on boxers from the Fisher Club.
Because of his international experience, Russell will head south for a second time in June alongside Jake Macdonald, Ewan Gliniecki and Lewis Urquhart, of Nairn, to take part in the Hull Box Cup.
This represents yet another development for the Inverness boxing club, who have already secured another fantastic season, equalling the record-breaking year they enjoyed in 2016.
Head coach of the Highland Boxing Academy, Liam Foy, is hoping that this will push the boxers out of their comfort zone, giving them a chance to take on competitors from outside of Scotland.
“They’ve come up against most of the top boxers in Scotland already and this will just give them a different challenge,” he said.
“To succeed and to be successful you just have to continue to try and better yourself as a club and as a coach.
“We have to step up and give them better opportunities with the sport. If we want them to develop we have to increase what we are giving to them.
“If we can take something back from the Hull Boxing Cup that adds further success on what we have already achieved and that’s what we are hoping to do.
“We are hungry as a club to go and win challenges we have not won before.”
HBA have enjoyed another successful season, with 12 champions already produced for the club so far.
One of four Scottish Open champions produced by HBA this season, it was heartbreak for Macdonald, who had to withdraw from his test match at the weekend.
After winning the Scottish Open the previous weekend, Macdonald had to withdraw due to an illness, ruling him out of the selection process and any chance of featuring in the GB Three Nations Junior and Youth Championships squad.
Foy was disappointed to have to withdraw him from the competition but knows it was the right thing to do.
“After the fight he felt fine physically,” he said.
“He wasn’t feeling 100 per cent and wasn’t training all week. When he came in to see me on Friday night I knew that I couldn’t have taken him down. It’s just one of those things.”
Urquhart missed out on selection with the team going for the more experienced Lennon Mulligan.
This is no disgrace for the youngster, however as he has won both Scottish Novice and Open champion in only his first season and will be competing in London next month.
Gliniecki also won the Scottish Open title this season, but unfortunately the GB’s do not contest the 2001 age band.
However, as part of his development, he has been selected in the team which will go to Hull later this year.
The club’s fourth Scottish Open champion Urquhart is still in the running for national selection in the Schoolboy GBs.
HBA’s home show is scheduled to take place next month, featuring all of the top boxers from the club this year.
