Boxing

Stars of the future: Royal Navy boxers put on a show at annual championships

12th June 2026 at 9:16am

Future stars of Royal Navy boxing have put on a show at their annual boxing championships at HMS Raleigh, with competitors from the Royal Marines putting on strong performances inside the ring.

After the competition was commenced with a junior bout, the first senior bout saw LET Harry McMahon take on his civilian opponent Ethan Dieroff from Legends ABC in the 70kg category.

With McMahon putting up a valiant effort, the judges were left slightly divided but a 4-1 split decision went in Dieroff's favour in the red corner.

Next up was Royal Marine Commando Mantas Sturys who faced AB Chris Gomez in the 80kg – and it was here where Mne Sturys wowed the crowd with prolific hits against his Navy opponent.

After Gomez bravely tried to stay in the fight, his campaign would end in a referee-stopped contest, giving the Marines their first win of the night.

Next up was an elite level fight with AB Reece Gannon facing civilian boxer Fire Virk from Chard ABC.

AB Gannon, who was making his debut with the team after a few years away from the ring, faced a tough challenge against a vastly experienced Virk. But despite having to fight through a physically challenging opponent, the judges leant towards the Navy boxer's corner as he would win by a 4-1 split decision.

The fifth bout of the evening was Marine against Marine, with Marine Lewie Hanniff taking on Marine Brad Baker at 80kg. Mne Hanniff, who is riding high after successful outings against the US Navy and at the Box Cup in Germany, came out on top with the first unanimous decision of the night.

The sixth bout saw another Marine, Lance Corporal Jake Wilder, face civilian boxer Spencer Pool from Blue Flames, boxing at 75kg. LCpl Wilder would also go on to beat Pool with the second unanimous decision of the night.

The final bout was the 90kg heavyweight fight featuring Marine Kane Dukes, who faced civilian boxer Modou Samou from Bideford ABC. It wouldn't be a clean sweep for the Marines however, as Mne Dukes was outboxed by Samou with the judges leaning towards the civilian boxer by a 4-1 split decision.

Reacting to the night's performances, newly appointed Royal Navy Head Coach Sergeant Dan Walker said: "Fantastic performances, these are the stars of the future. We've got the Harrogate Box Cup tomorrow [12 June] in which our elite boxers will be boxing on, but today is all about the development boxers coming through for that set-up in the future.

"All of them were really good. We had AB Reece Gannon make his debut with the team. Today he's already an open class, elite level fighter with 50-plus bouts and he had a great performance after a few years out of the ring. So it's great to see him back up and at it now."