Heffron takes revenge

LOCAL boxer Mark Heffron avenged his controversial defeat in the finals of the junior ABA Championship.

The 17-year-old from Horsedge Street defeated Cain Brunning in their rematch in the final of the Great Britain Championships at Everton Park, Liverpool.

Heffron scored a 6-4 points victory against Brunning having the previous day beaten the Scottish champion 7-1 in the semi-final.

“It was a closer bout than the final of the junior ABAs, but that was probably due to Mark having fought the day before while Brunning had a free day having had a bye,” explained Ben Lancaster, his coach at Boarshaw.

Heffron had been the victim of a miscarriage of justice in the final of the junior ABAs.

All five judges gave the verdict to Heffron — but here were gasps of astonishment when the arm of Brunning was raised as the victor.

The problem concerned the computer scoring in which three of the five judges must press a button within one second of a punch being thrown to record a point.

While the individual judges gave Heffron victory, the second overall scoresheet deemed Brunning the winner to the amazement of everybody — Heffron had beaten Brunning 11-1 a couple of months earlier in the final of the National Association of Boys Club Championships.

Heffron is this week competing for England in a tournament in Dublin, Ireland.

He is also in line to compete for Great Britain in the European Union Championship later this year.