Boxing: Army and Leith Vics serve up ring feast

It's most unusual for an entire boxing crowd to rise as one to their feet to applaud a boxer before he throws a punch, but then British Army lighteavyweight Keiran Haywood is no ordinary boxer, having survived an A-K 47 assault rifle bullet through the chin which exited out of his neck after grazing his carotid artery in Afghanistan before he resumed his Army boxing ring career 12 months ago.

And last night, as he waited to enter the ring to box Renfrew opponent Steven Lavelle on the Leith Victoria v the British Army show in Ednburgh's Carlton hotel to raise funds for wounded Army soldiers like himself, Haywood, a Corporal in The Rifles Regiment, admitted: "I still have flashbacks about being shot.

"I was lucky, not many guys survive being hit by an A-K 47 round. What stopped it blowing my head off was that I was so close to where the guy who shot me was lying. I was shopping in Birmingham just two weeks after being hit by that bullet in Afghanistan after discharging myself from hospital, but lots of guys are not so lucky, so I'm doing my bit by boxing on tonight's show."

And there were even bigger cheers when, after being bombarded by Renfrew opponent Lavelle in round one with some heavy punches, Haywood stormed back and win deservedly on points, a victory which contributed to the British Army team's 4-4 draw with Leith Vics.

Meanwhile, Victoria lightweight Sean White not only was outpointed by the Army's Shaun McCartan but suffered a freak cut left-knee injury after dropping down to the canvas from a left hook in round one. Ringside doctor Brian Tansey said: "That's the very first time ever I've had to inspect a boxer's cut knee in a contest. Eyes, noses, cheeks, yes, but knees? Unitl now, never."

However, it wasn't all defeat for the host club select team, thanks to two outstanding performances by guesting Holyrood club pair, light-welters Chris Givan and Phil Coppola.

In a crunching toe-to-toe battle of left hooks, Givan came from behind against the Army's Matt Wells to have the soldier rocking in the fourth and final round to grab a merited and hard-earned points win.

Similarly, Holyrood switch hitter Coppola had trouble at first with his Royal Engineers opponent Lester Jones' slick feinting and countering skills, but the Capital man battered his way back to take the judges verdict after a tough, engrossing, battle.

Equally, in the top of the bill spot, Dunfermline's Scottish southpaw light-welterweight champion Callum Susans showed just why he is boss of Scottish amateur 10-stone boxing by clawing his way back to victory from being outgunned in the first two rounds by soldier Sean Dick, who posed the Fifer plenty of early problems before losing the verdict.

Again, Leith Victoria welterweights Gregor Korzak and Sean Eng were outmuscled and lacked the power to trouble their Army opponents Tommy Dickson and Tommy Leigh, who outscored both of them.

However, the main winners were the wounded Army veterans' dependants charity, who were presented with a cheque for 3000 by he Leith Victoria show organisers and promoters, Tony Reid and Douglas Fraser.