Ronnie rocked

RONNIE HEFFRON suffered a controversial first-round exit in the inaugural world junior boxing championships in Mexico.

The 18-year-old from Horsedge Street was beaten 15-11 on points by Russian Romain Usikov, the European cadet champion.

Yet Heffron, who was boxing in the 64kg class, had Usikov down in the last round and teetering on the edge of defeat.

Heffron’s father Tommy, who has seen a video of the fight, said: “I would say Ronnie won three of the four rounds and in the last was well on top and almost stopped the Russian.

“Ronnie usually throw 90 to 100 punches each round so only to score four points in the first three rounds was baffling. In some of his other bouts he has scored over 30 points yet in one round he was awarded only one point.”

Heffron was one of only two English boxers in action in Guadalajara, the other Martin Ward also losing his first bout.

There is some cheer for junior ABA champion Heffron, however, as he has been selected to box in a multi-nations tournament in Azerbaijan next month.