Bradley Smith will resume his quest for national boxing glory at Coventry next weekend after showing real resilience to book his place in the Midland Counties finals of the Golden Gloves competition.
The 14-year-old Shrewsbury & Severnside ABC prospect produced a spirited performance to get the better of Birmingham puncher Attiq Suleman on a majority decision at Bedworth to keep him on course for a notable success in the class three 60-63 kilo category.
Now the Copthorne youngster knows another victory on Sunday, February 3 at Coventry would take him through to the last eight in his class nationwide, a feat his Severnside clubmate Brendan Howes achieved last year.
Stopping
“I’m very pleased for the lad,” said experienced Severnside trainer Colin Hough.
“He was up against a tough opponent in Suleman as he had won eight of his nine previous contests, stopping quite a few lads in the process.”
Hough felt the Shrewsbury boxer had the better of rounds one and three but, in between, Smith had to battle back from the disappointment of being sent crashing to the canvas early in the second round.
“I warned Bradley at the end of the first round to watch out for a big right hand over the top as I predicted it was what Suleman was waiting for, and 20 seconds later that’s what happened,” said Hough.
“Bradley did well to weather the storm and come back but he was annoyed with himself for not listening to what I had told him.
“He now realises I’m not just in the corner to give him a glass of water – but it was a very hard bout and I thought Bradley shaded it.
“I was impressed how he recovered so well from being knocked down.”