Lighthing lightweight Robert Douglas was crowned the region's new junior ABA champion on his own club show in Middlesbrough. Douglas (Phil Thomas School of Boxing) clearly outpointed Anth McIntosh in the Class 5, 60kg Tyne, Tees and Wear final at the Beechwood and Easterside club. He dominated ring centre and showed sharper and faster hands to outwork Lambton Street's tricky southpaw, who struggled to get his jab and straight left going under swarming pressure. In the second of two championship matches on the bill, Middlesbrough ABC's Jerome Tyrrell lost a narrow-looking decision to stocky national boys clubs' champion Tyson Carthy of Sunderland. Jerome, from Berwick Hills, scored with single shots early on and proved an elusive target for a frustrated Carthy, who eventually closed the distance to go through to the class 5 69kg final. Most exciting bout of the night by far was promoting club lionheart Lee Solomon's gruelling senior scrap against Dan Small (Birtley). The action was toe to toe from first bell to last, with a battered and bloody Small putting together some hard final round combinations to salvage a wafer-thin points win. East Cleveland youngster Ben Wardle is a tidy boxer with tight skills and only lost the first contest of the night to Birtley's Mark White because the visitor picked up crucial points with some eye-catching opening round flurries. Constantly-improving Chris Peacock (Middlesbrough ABC) stepped up in class to make it seven wins on the trot with a close distance triumph over Frankie Cunningham (Birtley), who had only lost three of 15 previous contests. Spennymoor's James Brown then felt far from good after Ross Beadle (East Cleveland) had finished with him. Beadle went on a first round rampage, twice reducing the visitor to a crumpled heap with blistering body shots that prompted the Spennymoor corner to throw the towel in. The rest of the 13-fight card saw mixed results for the Phil Thomas squad. Southpaw Danny Peters showed some lovely footwork and sound ringcraft against Jordan Allan (Birtley) only to see the decision go the other way. Ben Conlin outboxed Scarborough opponent Sean Ireland (Westways) for a points win, but Robert McCreesh was unlucky to be outpointed by David Stewart (Grainger Park) after receiving a debatable standing count in round one. Jake Allen, son of Middlesbrough professional Jed Tytler, boxed despite a foot injury and gave Horsley Hill's unorthodox Adam Ray a run for his money before going down on points. Daniel Boyle (Birtley) got the better of Peter Douglas on points before the most controversial outcome of the night. Tony Grange returned from a shoulder injury to box Paul Warnett (East Durham) in the show closer and got short changed on the computer scoring system. He bossed proceedings after being caught with a four punch burst in the first round, underlining his supremacy with a big right on the final bell. But Warnett was somehow declared the winner on points and a bemused Grange, taking it in with a grin, sportingly congratulated him. Award for the best junior boxer of the night went to Headland's Mick Hatfield, who impressed in outpointing Dwayne Connor (Birtley), with Ben Conlin the best Phil Thomas junior. Daniel Small received the best senior trophy following his war against Solomon and Robert Douglas was named top Phil Thomas senior for his championship-winning performance. NATIONAL women's champion Nicola Owens attempts to impress England's selectors this weekend. The 21-year-old Wellington ABC featherweight heads for a training camp in Sheffield tomorrow in the hope of earning a call-up for a tournament in Norway next month. She is part of a seven-strong squad - including Boldon's Heather Mackie and Katie Reid (Newton Aycliffe) - attending the get-together. Her Wellington team-mates Darren Fields and Louis O'Donoghue were due to box on a show at York last night. | 
