Champion Connor boosts new club

Robbie Connor with coach Eric Noi.

A NEW boxing club in Oldham has produced a champion during its first six months of competitive action.

Robbie Connor (19) of the Oldham Boxing and Personal Development Centre, won the Senior ABA North-West Novice Championship with a superb display at the Cedar Mount Boxing Centre in Gorton.

Competing in the 75kg section, Connor beat three strong opponents on the way to Saturday’s showdown with the unbeaten Gareth Jones of Macclesfield.

And once again his slick boxing skills came to the fore against an extremely strong and hard-hitting fighter who had knocked out or stopped most of his previous opponents.

Connor also had to show grit and determination in the closing stages of the contest as the relentless Jones pressed for a knock-out to nullify his large points deficit accrued in the first two rounds.

Now Connor, who lives in Shaw and trains at the OBPDC headquarters at Derker Annex, will be aiming to make further progress in the national quarter-finals, which will once again be held in Gorton this weekend.

Standing in his way will be opponents from Yorkshire and the Midlands, but his team – headed by former England boxing star Eric Noi, a member of the 1992 British Olympic team - are confident he can earn a place in the ABA finals and have the chance to emulate the town’s recent winners Thomas Stubbs and Ronnie Heffron.