Steve has a Ball on a good night for St Ives boxers

Welterweight Steve Ball made his first fight under the St Ives Boxing Academy banner a winning one last Friday night.

There were no signs of rustiness despite two years out of the ring as he beat Callum Reece of Bad Boys ABC on a unanimous decision at the Corn Exchange despite being cut in the final round.

Marco Pitta roared to a fifth successive victory at welterweight as he floored Lorenzo Gutierrez of London club Omnibus ABC.

Flyweight Jack Smith produced a fine mixture of aggressive attacks and smart counter-punching to earn a unanimous verdict against Ben Vaughan from Lydney ABC.

It was the ideal preparation for his appearance in the Haringey Box Cup event later this month.

Middleweight Aaron Francis also ended his season on a high by winning a scrappy affair against late replacement Will Purcell of Omnibus ABC.

But there were defeats for two other St Ives men.

Lightweight Mohammed Hassan couldn’t continue against Mohammed Algotaibi, from the Top Lane club in Sheffield, after slipping out of the ring and injuring his knee while Tony Robb, fighting at middleweight, lost on a unanimous decision against Jordan Pedro, from Northolt ABC.

In the junior ranks, Levi Browning (12) bounced back from a disappointing championship outing with an emphatic success against Michael McDonaugh (Lion ABC), but Brian Lawless (17) paid the price for a poor final round as he was beaten by Josh Brown from the Spit ‘n’ Sawdust club.

Micky Ward (10) impressed in his first skills bout against Dan Hardy from Lydney ABC.