ST IVES Boxing Academy’s Tom Martin and Shona Whitwell both enjoyed wins as they fought on the card at separate shows last week.

ST IVES Boxing Academy’s Tom Martin and Shona Whitwell both enjoyed wins as they fought on the card at separate shows last week.

First up was Martin, who travelled to Margate Boxing Club and enjoyed a points win over home fighter Ross Aylett.

Martin started a little too aggressively and ran on to the counter-punching of Aylett, getting caught with several sharp combinations in round one.

It looked as though Martin was becoming more frustrated as the round finished and was told to slow his work down and work the body against his taller opponent, which is exactly what he did for the next two rounds.

Martin then pushed forward after drawing southpaw Aylett out and then hurt him to the body with some meaty hooks.

Aylett tired badly in the third round and Martin took full advantage again with clever combinations to the body and head.

The St Ives fighter showed his strength in this bout and got back to some nice boxing, but with his natural power showing through to take the decision.

He next boxes on the Hoddesdon open air show in June.

Also back in the ring after defeat on the last home show was Shona Whitwell, again boxing against a home boxer on the Hornchurch ABC show.

She was up against Polish boxer Maria Markowska and went on to claim a unanimous decision.

From the opening bell, it looked to be even match with both girls showing some nice boxing skills.

As the first round progressed, it was Whitwell’s superior footwork and long-range punching that was winning but, from out of nowhere, a straight backhand put the Pole on the seat of her pants for a count of eight.

After that Markowska was very cagey and failed to really put the pressure on Whitwell, who boxed superbly from long range and, although did have a nose bleed throughout the fight, barely took a clean shot.

The Hornchurch boxer did try to attack Whitwell’s body in the last round but, as soon as she got back to her long range punching, it was just a matter of seeing the round out to seal a unanimous decision for the St Ives boxer.

Shona’s father and coach Steve Whitwell said: “She showed great maturity in this bout and it has given her confidence a major boost before her upcoming national schoolgirl championships in June.

“I think she has a great chance in those if she boxes anything like as good as this.”

• CAMPOL head coach Mick Taylor lavished praise on two of his talented young fighters after they valiantly went down to defeat in Reading, Berkshire over the weekend.

Ryan Adair, 12, lost out to home boxer Matt Stevens (Pinewood Starr) while Scott Allen, also 12, was edged out by Craig Frankham (Pinewood Starr) - both were three rounders.

Taylor said: “They both came back winners in my eyes, because they showed they can mix it with the top boys in their class.

“They more than held their own against two of the top boys in the country and did so with flying colours.”