DROITWICH Amateur Boxing Club enjoyed huge success at the Riviera Box Cup as five of their fighters came away with gold in Torquay.
Jack Sherry, Ephraim Smith, George Howard, Billy Boy Davies and Stevie Lee Jones all won gold medals under the guidance of coaches Shane Jones and Michael ‘Bulla’ Pardoe.
The only Droitwich ABC fighter not to win gold was Dean Doe after he suffered a nasty elbow to the eye which required five stitches.
Doe, aged 16, was fighting in the under 66kg 2006 Novice Class and started strongly in his gold medal fight only for the elbow to stop the bout with the teenager unable to continue.
Next up for Droitwich was 15-year-old Sherry in the under 70kg 2006 Novice Class who was the only club boxer required to fight twice after the other five fighters received byes to the final.
Sherry came through a tough semi-final with a unanimous decision victory before winning gold with another unanimous points success as he excelled to beat two fighters with more experience.
Droitwich’s first gold came from Smith who won the 2006 Novice under 63kg class, after three hard rounds, and took the fight to his opponent from the first bell.
A superb effort from Howard earned Droitwich another gold in the 2005 Novice under 51kg as he overcame the current national champion in his class.
Howard showed skill and excellent sportsmanship throughout the fight, deploying his Mike Tyson style, to secure Droitwich’s second gold of the weekend.
And there was further joy for Droitwich when Davies took the gold medal in the 2005 Novice under 75kg class as he claimed a split decision victory fighting well above his years.
After Sherry’s success in his final, Jones completed Droitwich’s gold medal haul with victory in the 2005 Novice under 56kg class.
Despite weighing in at the bottom of his weight class, giving away 2kg to his opponent, Jones won a split decision against a strong competitor to claim Droitwich’s fifth gold medal of the weekend.
That meant Droitwich finished the Cup in third place overall behind home team Torbay Amateur Boxing Club who claimed top spot with nine medals and White Hart Lane who were second with eight medals.
The club are extremely proud of their boxers and would like to give a special mention to coaches Shane and ‘Bulla’, both of whom fought for the club during their youth, with the latter having the highest number of fights in club history at 170.
Droitwich ABC were formed in the 1970’s by Chris Andrews who still attends sessions today in his 80’s.
In 2013 the club moved to its current location at King George Playing Fields and has gone from strength to strength, with a strong senior boxing team and ever-growing junior team.
