Dom was competing in the Class A Welterweight division and was drawn against Z Sammour of Chelmsford ABC. First bout of the night, with the final due later after support bouts and straight finals, Dom was apprehensive in the opening round of his first bout of the season. Content to stick with counter punching from a nice tight defence, he finished a close first round just ahead on points. The second round saw the Chelmsford man picking up the pace as he looked to launch attacks and bring some heavy punches to bare. Dom matched the increased effort, and settling down seemed to be boxing well within himself come the end of an fairly even round.
With instructions from the corner to make sure of the outcome, Dom started the last round with a lot sharper approach and soon had Sammour reeling from clean shots to the head. Sammour refused to be dominated and tried to matched Dom punch for punch. This proved a mistake as he was soon sent stumbling across the ring from a cracking left hook to the jaw. With only the ropes preventing his fall, the referee jumped in to administer a standing 8 count. With the bit between his teeth, Dom continued to let shots fly and Sammour was soon down following a right cross. The referee ruled a trip not a knockdown, but heavy shots had been scored and the fight seemed beyond the chelmsford boxer from this point. He bravely stuck in there to see out the round but McGurl it was with a clear points Win! So on to the Final !?
One of the straight finals to follow involved Bradley Hopper from Harwich ABC. With Head Coach Webb away with the Commonwealth Youth Games Team, the Colchester coaches worked his corner as well, something that had the MC checking his details before announcing the contest. Boxing R.Dias from Rayleigh ABC in the Class B Lightwelter Final, Bradley got off to a sharp start to get himself in the driving seat. Dias tried hard to put the stylish Hopper out of his stride and at times dragged him into an untidy brawl. Brad did enough clean scoring in between to stay in fornt and open his season with a points win and a place in the Eastern Counties Semi Final.
With Dom waiting to see the Doctor for his second pre fight medical of the evening, all seemed roses in the Colchester camp with boxer and coaches relaxed and focused on the final. However the doctor found Dom's heart rate to be abnormally high and wasn't content to pass him fit to box. despite a period of sitting and relaxing before seeing doctor again, it was still high. The doctor checked blood pressure as well which was also up and decided Dom could not box.
A very dissapointing end to affairs, but it these excellent medical controls that make Amateur Boxing such a safe sport. Dom can at least take heart from his season opener and look forward to building on that performance once he gets the all clear!