It's seven up for Walsall Wood Boxing Club
Walsall Wood Boxing Club have signed off for 2014 by claiming their seventh national title in seven straight years and literally right at the death.
The fight factory churned out another champion from the unlikely source of quiet teenager Ibrahim Khan at the weekend,
The 16-year-old, a pupil at the Joseph Leckie Academy in Walsall, turned a points decision his way in the last 30 seconds of their England Development junior championships final.
With that he joined Matthew Parsons, hat-trick hero Daniel Breeze, Joseph Stevenson and Lauren Johnson in the club's Hall of Fame.
Khan was back in the gym on Lichfield Road in Brownhills to a chorus of claps and cheers after his victory on Saturday, with trainer Shaun Healy admitting even he didn't expect it to happen.
He said: "Who would have thought it? He started to come and train here a year ago, he barely says a word but he's got tools in the ring.
"He's deceptively strong, fit and determined and that's what won him the fight. He's got something he can build on now and he can expect to be busy next year.
"He will step up to the senior development competition and join Class A, maybe even Class B if he's had 10 fights by next autumn.
"Whatever happens, no one can ever take what he has achieved. I couldn't be more proud of him."
Khan didn't enter the competition until the national semi-finals, after a series of walk overs with no opponent to box.
But his impact was firmly felt at 46kg in Class B, for boxers born in 1998 with two to 10 bouts under his belt, the Sunday previously.
He decked Matthew Carr after a left jab set up a hammer of a right hook on route to a stunning first round stoppage, so his confidence was high for the title decider.
He had waited long enough to step through the ropes – the bell for his contest didn't sound until 4pm, having left the West Midlands at 6.30am.
A mirror image of himself awaited for a see-saw battle with Mohammed Kizeer Amed, from Broad Street in London, at Merlin's Nightclub on the Isle of Sheppey.
They worked at range and punished the other coming forward until the final throes of the third and last round, when they went hell for leather.
Khan got on top and outworked his opponent until the final bell sounded, although both corners still weren't certain of the decision. A majority call went his way, by three judges to two.
Healy said: "Right up until the third, I really couldn't pick a winner of each round, it was that close. They knew that in the third.
"In the end, Ibrahim's fitness came through. He just wanted it that bit more than the other kid."
[interruptor]
