Boxing: East Lothian boxers give fine display

The 500-strong capacity crowd who packed Haddington's Corn Exchange yesterday to watch the local East Lothian boxing club triumph over an eastern club select by 7-1 were rewarded with some outstanding performances by the host club boxers.

Despite having only his second bout, East Lothian bantamweight Martin Buist took the scalp of Clovenstone's recently-crowned Eastern 54kg champion Ryan McCutcheon by smothering southpaw McCutcheon's defences with eager, bustling attacks.

Similarly, several big punching East Lothian boxers excited the local fans by demolishing their opponents with some ferocious punching, with host club welterweight Ian Trotter stopping Edinburgh Boxing Academy rival Andrew Sutherland in 49 seconds of the second round. Trotter's welterweight clubmate, McAulay Duncan, also halted Tranent Bronx's Patrick Logan early doors.

However, the boot was on the other foot when Midlothian welterweight Connor Stewart rocked East Lothian's James Bowers with power-packed swings in round two. Another visiting boxer, Sparta welterweight Keith Barr, left Leith Victoria opponent Vinnie Jumelle dazed in Barr's own corner, forcing the referee to jump in after just one minute 20 seconds of round one.

However, arguably the most crowd-pleasing scrap was the torrid toe-to-toe war between Leith Victoria's Simerdeep Singh and East Lothian's Gary Willkie, with home-boy Wilkie grabbing the judges' verdict.

Finally, 34-year-old Chirnside veteran Michael Black - having his first bout for 11 years - showed scant signs of ring rust by making 18-year-old Midlothian opponent Scott Grant toil hard for a points win.