Several members of Newark Amateur Boxing Club, which is based at Suggy’s Gym, travelled to Sweden last weekend to take part in the world’s biggest international boxing event, “King of The Ring”.
The team arrived on Thursday 2 November and with over 650 boxers there from across the world, including Sweden, Norway, Ukraine, Hungary, Afghanistan, Scotland and Denmark, Newark’s finest put on some great performances during the next three days to come away with two Golds, the first at -40kg for 14-year-old Joel Cook and the second at -57kg for 13-year-old Otis Pearson, along with a Silver at -52kg for 16-year-old Paddy Rooney.
“Joel Cook performed out of his skin to win 3-0 in the final on all three judges’ score cards against a really good opponent,” said Suggy’s Gym head coach Dean Sugden. “Two pocket rockets never stopped punching and moving but there was only one winner and Joel was the first boxer from Newark to win Gold.
“Shortly afterwards, he was followed by his friend Otis Pearson who defeated the local favourite Casper Lindahl in the semi-finals by a unanimous points win. Then in the final Otis boxed brilliantly, listened to instructions and won again to take the second Gold for Newark in what was a strong, mature and clinical performance against another Swedish boxer.
“In his final on Sunday, Paddy Rooney won every one of the three rounds, the first and third of which were really big, showing great movement and ringcraft to completely give his Norwegian opponent Mieszko Budakiewcz from Il Rossa the runaround. But despite Paddy being deliberately tripped and thrown in the final round by his opponent, it was the Norwegian who somehow won on a split.
“Personally, I think he threw and tripped Paddy because he knew he couldn’t win the bout without injuring or unsettling him but Paddy stayed calm and boxed brilliantly to the end. He floored his opponent with a very well-timed punch in round one and totally dominated the rest of the contest but still somehow lost on a split. I’m not one to look externally at what we can’t control but this has to be the worst decision ever, especially given the fact that one of the judges scored all three rounds in favour of Paddy, at 10-8 in rounds one and three and 10-9 in round two.
“Over the weekend, there were more amazing performances by James Jordan, Robert Price and Travis Dunwell, all of whom were involved in great contests and their performances were exactly what we asked for as a coaching team.
“In the diploma section, 14-year-old James Jordan was skilful, balanced and respectful and everyone was really surprised to see him lose on a split decision rather than win by a unanimous decision and then progress through the tournament.
““There was no-one in his -48kg category for 15-year-old Robert Price so he moved up to the next weight category -50kg, where he was drawn against the favourite and reigning King of The Ring Champion who is also a two-times European champion from Italy. Robert gave his taller opponent a load of problems in all three rounds – although It was a big ask, Robert negated his opponent’s strength, really pushing him all the way from start to finish and was unlucky to lose what was a very close and competitive bout.
“Involved in one of the best contests of the tournament, 17-year-old Travis Dunwell was on the wrong side of a split decision against Neo Judge from Torbay but you couldn’t argue whichever way it went.
“Looking back over the weekend in Sweden, I can only say that I returned to Newark super-proud of the whole team, both our coaches and the boxers themselves, whose hard work and dedication led to them having the opportunity to take part in what is the world’s biggest international boxing event.”
SUGGY'S GYM 
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