QUALITY boxing and a three-course meal were top of the bill on Friday night, as The Burgess Hall in St Ives hosted the annual Huntingdon Cromwell Rotary/ Cambs Police boxing evening. A specially selected group of 12 CAMPOL fighters took centre stage as th

QUALITY boxing and a three-course meal were top of the bill on Friday night, as The Burgess Hall in St Ives hosted the annual Huntingdon Cromwell Rotary/ Cambs Police boxing evening.

A specially selected group of 12 CAMPOL fighters took centre stage as they were pitted against pugilists representing a Northants/London team in front of a 400-strong capacity.

The enthusiastic crowd witnessed excitement right up until the final bout, when Brad Nunley was awarded victory over Kaz Parllaky, after the Kettering fighter went down after catching Nunley with a swinging shot.

The pair fell to the ground in a crumpled heap and, in doing so, Parllaky dislocated his knee and the contest was over.

The Kettering man had his knee reduced and hobbled out of the ring, with Nunley claiming the only heavyweight bout of the night.

Pick of the CAMPOL fighters was 14-year-old Ross Hellery who produced a performance far advanced of his years, claiming the scalp of Wisbech's Rocky Loveridge on a majority decsion.

CAMPOL headcoach Mick Taylor was delighted with Hellery's mature performance against a much taller man.

"Ross was totally undaunted by Rocky and he got his head down and boxed his heart out. It was an outstanding performance which proved to everyone just how much he has improved."

Taylor was also impressed with the quality of the bout between 16-year-old Will John and Louis Jones, from the Kettering School of Boxing.

The pair had fought before, with Jones coming out on top and, despite a gutsy and technically sound performance from John, the CAMPOL man lost on a majority decision.

"The first two rounds were fairly close," said Taylor. "But in the third round, Jones just couldn't handle Will. He absolutely destroyed him with a strong double jab and followed it up with a crushing right hand cross. Everytime Will threw it, the punch landed and Jones looked like he was hanging on at the end."

There were also some notable performances from 12-year-old Jack Potter, who was somewhat unfortunate to lose to Kettering's Miley Doran.

Potter kept his hands high and threw the better pucnhes, but the slightly unconventional style of Doran saw him take the win.

Michael Ray was also on the wrong end of a majority decision, losing to Wisbech's Dean Webb.

After two defeats in the first three bouts, the CAMPOL lads came out fighting, literally, and took the remaining contests to the visiting boxers.

Carl Brophy set them on their winning way, with a fine victory over Martin Stokes, in what was a very competitive contest.

Hellery then produced the performance of the night as he saw off Loveridge, before the unlucky Will John failed to get the better of Jones; the contest will be re-fought in March at Kettering when the CAMPOL man will surely gain his revenge.

Paul Wick then took on Toby Banfield but, despite producing a solid display of boxing, couldn't quite take it to the next level against another Kettering fighter.

Rob Austin got CAMPOL back to winning ways with a unanimous points victory over the aggressive Steve Finegan.

Austin found the target with some good left hand shots, and whenever Finegan returned the compliment, the Cambs man would step up a gear and inflict devastating combinations.

Taylor was pleased with the win, but not wholly surprised. "All of us at the club knew how good Rob is and, hopefully after this performance, he will know how good he is to, because that was a very, very good win."

The counterpunching Jason Flinders was up next but failed to really get into his stride against Sidiqzai from Dale ABC in London, and the man from the capital took the spoils.

In the penultimate contest of the night, Toby Scotford faced Dan Sirjatovs, from Corby, and in a closely-fought contest, the judges ruled that the Northamptonshire fighter had done enough.

The evening of boxing was concluded when Nunley beat Parllaky, due to the dislocated knee.

The evening raised between £4,000 and £5,000 for Huntingdonshire charities, with the Huntingdon Cromwell Rotary Club presenting the CAMPOL boxing club with a cheque for £1,000.

"It was a fantastic evening and it even surpassed last year's event, which was also very successful. There was something there for everyone and the quality of boxing was very good," said Taylor.