National farce costs Connor

TWO years of hard work were undone in a matter of minutes as the scoring system used in amateur boxing left Connor Tommins gutted at a seemingly impossible 7-0 defeat.

The 12-year-old St Paul's ABC boxer from Hull was fighting in the final of the ABAE Royal Navy National Schoolboys Championships in Brentwood, Essex.

Tommins was taking on Ryan Brown from Tyne, Tees and Wear in the final of the under-57kg category but stood dumb-founded after being told he had not scored a single point in the three-round fight.

Having been on top in the opening round, the youngster floored his opponent in round two with a fine jab to the head.

Tommins unleashed a series of blows to Brown, all of which appeared to connect.

His opponent's trainer had thought his own fighter was trailing 6-0 after the first two rounds and sent Brown out all guns blazing in the last round to try and salvage something from the bout.

But both boxers, and large sections of the crowd, were left shocked when the end result of 7-0 was announced in favour of Brown – who was expecting the opposite to be called out.

Tommins' coaches from St Paul's, Mick Bromby and Paul Kershaw, were at ringside for the fight and both feel a simple mix up in the two corners the boxers were fighting out of was to blame.

Kershaw told HotShots: "In our opinion he clearly did not score zero and clearly won the bout and that view was supported by everyone we spoke to there.

"It makes you wonder whether they have got the corners mixed up.

"The lad went into the championship last year but did not get to box anyone as he is big for his age and there was no one to compete against.

"So two years of hard work and training went into this fight and for Connor to perform like that and not get the result is gutting at that age.

"He is gutted about the result, but at the same time he is pleased about his performance and said he did not recall the lad landing a punch on him.

"There were five scoring blows that I counted in the first round alone and while you do not always expect to get all of them, as all three judges have to hit the button within a second of each other, you still expect to get a few.

"The killer thing is that 7-0, you expect him to get at least one for knocking the lad down so it's that zero that gripes the most.

"The lad was very surprised when he was given the decision at the end, he was looking around and did not know what to do.

"We spoke to the judges at ringside and they said they could see where we were coming from but that they could only go off the computer.

"They were very cagey about it all."

One on-looker was experienced amateur boxing coach Bobby Beck from Repton ABC, one of top clubs in the country which has produced top boxers such as former Olympic champion Audley Harrison and 1998 commonwealth champion Courtney Fry.

He labelled the decision a "joke" and revealed a number of his boxers also got questionable decisions over the weekend.

Beck said: "It was a disgrace, that result was terrible giving it as 7-0.

"Even the young kid thought he had lost and his trainer thought he had lost as well. It was just a really, really, really bad decision.

"Everybody that was there was shocked as the Hull lad was well up in the first and second rounds and while the other lad came back in the third, he did not get back to win as he was too far behind.

"So it was unbelievable when they read out the decision. He simply did not lose that fight, he did on the scorecards but that's the only place he lost.

"How can you go home after that and tell people your lad lost 7-0 and say he was robbed, people won't believe you, but that's how ridiculous it was.

"It's horrible when you have to go through something like this. I had it happen to one of my boxers from Repton the day before at the same event.

"The biggest thing he has missed out on is not being able to now box in the Tri-Nations tournament between England, Wales and Scotland."

Bromby and Kershaw are in the middle of writing a letter of complaint to the ABAE and while they do not expect to get the decision overturned, they are eager to see this never happen to a young boxer again.

The official in charge (OIC) of the two-day championships, Terry Gillam, did not wish to comment on the fight itself, but admitted the scoring system is floored.

Under the new system, three of the five judges have to press a button within a second of each other for a punch to score.

And Gillam said: "I have already put pen to paper to the ABAE about the judging (last weekend). Not about any particular fight but about the scoring across the weekend which was ludicrous.

"It happened a few times on the weekend where a few lads were robbed and the wrong boys were winning, although I wouldn't want to comment on that specific fight.

"The system is at fault, where three of the five judges have to touch a button within a second of each other for a punch to score.

"But what we have been seeing is four-round international fights where one lad has won 2-0 when there has been two good boxers throwing all sorts of punches.

"It is coming up soon that they are thinking about changing the system, but what we can never do is change a decision.

"Although we cannot go changing decisions, I really feel for the boy I really do."