Express & Star

Never count Morgan Jones out in the juniors

Morgan Jones takes his place in the national finals of the England Development junior championships this weekend after the slenderest of routes through.

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The Rugeley Police teenager squeezed through the pre-quarters last weekend, after pulling back a huge deficit to nudge home on a split decision,

writes Craig Birch.

He fought tooth-and-nail to pull through his 70kg contest in Class A, for boxers born in 1999 who have had two to 10 bouts, on Sunday.

Opponent Patrick Harris, from Astley VIP in Wigan, was streets ahead come the end of the second of three rounds at Newdigate Colliery Sports Social Club in Bedworth.

But a late salvo including a standing count in the last session, Harris rocked by a right hook to the had, saw his efforts completely divide the judges.

They can't have been far off dead level but there can be no draws in the unpaid code, so Jones got the nod for the unlikeliest of comebacks.

He's likely to come flying out of the blocks in the quarter-finals against James Button, from Sileby in Leicestershire, at Walkden Sixth Form Centre in Greater Manchester on Saturday.

Two of his West Midlands compatriots will join him in the last four if he wins, with Mohammed Khan and namesake Ibrahim Khan walking over through byes.

But there will be no Shay Hugman, from Walsall Wood, who was edged out in Bedworth last weekend after a close run-affair with Brendan Collins, from Sandygate in Burnley.

They clashed at 50kg in Class for three nip-and-tuck rounds, between two fighters tall for their age who worked from the jab and powered inside to inflict damage.

It was difficult to separate the two but the majority decision went to Collins, three judges to two. Mohammed Khan, from Merridale Boxing Club in Wolverhampton, sat it out at 42kg.

In Class B, incorporating 1998 entrants of the same experience, the Walsall Wood Khan has also yet to box in the competition, still progressing at 46kg.

Christian Amendola, from Priory Park in Dudley, bowed out on another split decision on Sunday after a scruffy affair with 54kg rival Sonny Wilson.

Wilson, from Timperley in Altrincham, bombed out of the corner and employed spoiling tactics to completely smother his foe's work.

Josh Rafferty, from the newly-formed City of Wolverhampton Boxing, pulled out of his 60kg bout with Tyler Stratten (Ardwick Lads Club, Manchester).for unspecified reasons.

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