New Horizon Boxing Club junior fighter Sonny Finch recently rounded off a successful season with a flurry with three bouts in five weeks.

This culminated with a bronze medal in the prestigious Bristol Box Cup, one of the UK’s biggest events open to schoolage boxers.

The event saw 180 boxers from all over the UK and Ireland converging on the Ashton Gate football stadium, the home of Bristol City FC.

Sonny was drawn in the junior class A 54kg categories where he faced Finn Kerwan from Ireland’s County Wexford boxing squad.

Both boxers were cautious in the early stages, using their jabs to create openings.

Kerwan was the first to break cover and put together a sustained attack that Finch dealt with by using good footwork.

The Douglas schoolboy found some success near the end of the round with a double-jab right-hand combination.

The Irish lad started the second round on the front foot, landing three and four punch combinations, before Finch looked to get behind his jab to set up straight right hands but Kirwan used good head work to avoid many of the shots.

The third round had both boxers meeting in the centre of the ring and trading punches and Kerwan soon had Finch on the back foot.

The Manx fighter was happy to box on the outside, picking up points with his jab while Kerwan used good defence to set up his own two fisted attacks.

In a well-matched contest there was little to separate these excellent young boxers but the judges went for Kerwan’s higher workrate, awarding him the unanimous points decision.

busy month

Finch had been busy in the previous month in preparation for this event, with two contests in England during May.

Firstly, Sonny and club-mate Ryan Hughes travelled to Northwich in Cheshire as guests on the town’s New Era Boxing Club show.

Hughes took part in a skills bout against New Era’s Ollie Marsh and, for his first time in the ring, the Braddan schoolboy was composed and demonstrated a high level of skill in this no decision bout.

In this well-matched affair, both boxers had success in the first round, with Ryan settling quicker and dominating with his jab.

In the second round, Marsh started strongly and looked to control from the centre of the ring, but as the round progressed Hughes took advantage of Marsh’s low guard with right-hand counters.

Both lads went for it in the final round as they stood toe-to-toe, much to the delight of the crowd.

Ryan now has another skills bout planned before he is let off the leash in an open competitive bout.

Sonny boxed a junior contest against New Era’s Alan Sharp.

The tall Manx boxer used his height and reach advantage to dominate behind the jab in the early exchanges, only for Sharp to find success as the round progressed with quick counter-attacks.

The second was much like the first, with Finch picking up the points with a good jab and straight back hands, but as in the first he didn’t have it all his own way as Sharp put together some good counter-attacks.

This very even contest was finely poised going into the final round but Shaw upped the pace as Finch slowed down the home stretch and the higher workrate in the last round from the Northwich lad gained him a split points decision win.

Sonny had no time to dwell on the disappointment of the loss in Northwich though, as he was back in the ring less than two weeks later, this time in Manchester against Ethan Sheridan of the Fox ABC.

Finch started the bout on the front foot, doubling his jabs up and firing in accurate right hands to the head.

Sheridan looked to mount counter-attacks, but Sonny’s footwork was too good and the Manchester lad’s punches often fell short of the target or were blocked by the Manx fighter’s high guard.

Sonny upped the pace in the second round and soon had Sheridan under pressure before a double attack forced the referee to step in and give Sheridan a standing count.

Finch didn’t rush in but got back to the jab and worked for his next opening that soon came as his opponent was put under intense pressure from another two-fisted attack from Finch, forcing a second standing count.

Sheridan did well to hear the bell for the end of the round and the Mancunium showed a lot of grit and determination in the final round as Finch’s work rate slowed and the bout became scrappy.

But the Isle of Man fighter had done enough in the first two rounds to make the judges’ decision a formality, Finch winning by a unanimous points decision.

NEW CLUB

New Horizon Boxing Club are the newest club in the island, having started three years ago. Like a lot of clubs they were hit badly by the lockdowns – as they were just getting established, Covid hit.

Originally formed in QEII High School, they have moved gyms twice in that time and are now settled in the Palace Road gym formerly occupied by Manx ABC.

This was something of a homecoming for head coach John Cain as he was formerly held the same role at Manx ABC in the same gym.

The club is now thriving with a buoyant junior section, with many close to stepping through the ropes for the first time to add to the six existing registered boxers.

Therefore, the future looks bright for this new edition to a thriving Manx boxing scene, with a home show planned for the new season.

The club would like to thank all the sponsors that have helped them get this far, in particular Peter Ferguson of Global Monetary Solutions and Ross Beggs of Wash and Go for their sponsorship that has enabled the club to send Sonny Finch to the Bristol Box Cup.