Boxing: Capital fighters do clubs proud in Fife showdown

Capital club boxers covered themselves in glory at the Eastern amateur boxing championships in Bowhill Community Centre in Fife.

Lochend's Liam Tervett, hot favourite for the bantamweight title, praised his Denbeath semi-final opponent, Owen Kinninmonth, for pushing him right to the wire before the Fifer lost on points.

Tervett admitted: "I was amazed to learn that was the Denbeath boy's very first ring bout as he was so tough and strong. He pushed me all the way."

Tervett became the 54kgs champion by stopping Craigmillar opponent Cameron Ross in round two of the final while Queensferry welterweight Owen Spence also had too much power and skill for Stirling's Mathew Hutchison, who was forced to surrender in the second round.

Meanwhile, 14-year-old Barry Hogg, the Hibs youth midfielder and classy southpaw, gave an eyecatching display of ferocious body punching which halted his Alloa opponent Joe Kirk in round two of their light-flyweight title fight with Kirk requiring ringside medical aid for suspected rib damage. The win gave the Edinburgh Academy club their very first champion.

However, there was controversy in the keenly-anticipated featherweight final clash between Lochend's Kevin Skey and Zetland's Bryce Stewart.

Both Skey and Stewart enjoyed periods of ring ascendancy during their three-round clash but the judges' final scoreline of 5-1 in favour of Stewart was a travesty given that the scrap was close enough for the verdict to have gone either way on my card.

This was a view shared by Skye's Lochend coach John McCarron, who said: "Even though I thought Kevin won, I still can't see how the judges saw Stewart winning by 5-1."

Another Edinburgh-based featherweight, Clovenstone southpaw Ryan McCutcheon, dazzled in winning his 1994 age group 57kgs final as he bobbed, weaved and hooked his way to victory by 14-2 points over Craigmillar's James Bruce. But Bruce's light-flyweight clubmate, Joe Murray, made amends by widely outpointing Hawick's Jake Mulroy by 12-3 in their 42kgs final.

Tranent Bronx southpaw light-welterweight William Stewart may have suffered his first defeat in eight bouts by losing 10-4 to internationalist Danny Tarling from Kelty. But Stewart had impressed enough earlier during his close 8-6 countback decision over Craigmillar's Brodie Robertson in their 63kgs semi-final clash to suggest that the East Lothian boxer is definitely one to watch.