Ruthless Benjamin Whittaker goes through

Benjamin Whittaker bust up his opponent on route to reaching the semi-finals of the England Youth Boxing Championships with a fourth straight shut-out.

The Wodensborough Boxing Club fighter defeated Leigh's Matthew Burgess at the Territorial Army Centre in Stoke-on-Trent on Sunday afternoon.

They contested a quarter-final at 69kg in Class A - for boxers born in 1997 - with National Ambition champion Whittaker in the mood to do damage.

He sliced open his opponent's right cheek with a straight left in the first round and screwed in the same shot to bloody his nose in the second.

The 16-year-old negated body puncher Burgess' skills by fending him off with the jab and moving in with uppercuts, as he put together combinations to keep his foe at bay.

It was enough for Whittaker to record another unanimous points victory and move on to face Zak Stabler at the Croxeth Sports Centre in Liverpool on Sunday.

He will be joined in the next round by James Beech, from Pleck BC, who spilled blood for the cause in a fiercely-contested battle against Kings Heath's Ryan Conway.

Beech's vest was covered in blood at the final bell from a stiff right in the second round, but showed his grit to battle on and claim a majority points victory.

He wildly threw right and left hooks in response against Conway and worked the body in the third and last round, his never-say-die attitude winning over the judges.

A delighted Beech now goes up against Issac Milburn, from the famed Birtley Boys Club in Northumberland, for a 56kg showdown in Class A.