Royal Navy boxing team retain trophy after thrilling draw with Western Counties

Britannia Royal Naval College Dartmouth played host to a spectacular night of Royal Navy v Western Counties boxing for the first time in 14 years.

There was also a brilliant performance from the Royal Marines Corps of Drums for the 53rd match-up between the Navy and Western Counties' top amateur boxers. 

The Navy were the champions from last year and used this fixture as a springboard for some of their boxers with Inter Services aspirations.

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The first of six bouts counting towards the result was at 88 kilos as AB Diver Liam Marshall, in only his third competitive fight, took on Finnley Cuthbert from St Just ABC. 

It was a really tight contest, but AB Marshall was in a determined mood to impress and certainly did that. Throughout, he kept up a tide of scoring punches, and deservedly claimed the win with a unanimous points victory from the judges.

Second on the bill at 65-68 kilos was one of the two men on show likely to feature at the Inter Services for the Navy, Marine Tommy Caufield.

He has plenty of experience but was up against a tricky customer in Nial O'Brien from the Arena club. Mne Caufield made a good start forcing a standing count on his opponent, but the man in red recovered well, pushing the commando all the way. Caufield took the fight but only on a split judges decision.

The third serviceman in the ring was Marine Martin Ward, the nephew of the Navy head coach, against Ryan Matthews of Roman ABC at 78 kilos.

This was a rematch from last year, which Matthews had won, but Ward was out to impress. It produced one of the best bouts of the night, with two very even rounds, but Ward took two standing counts in the third and Matthews awarded the fight on a split decision

He was also awarded best boxer of the night for his performance.

The fourth encounter was equally classy. Marine Steve Munroe has 30-plus matches under his belt and was against another experienced man, Boyd Chapman from Torbay ABC.

Three even rounds followed and Munroe looked to have secured the win in in the third, but the judges awarded another split decision to the local fighter which levelled the match up at 2-2.

The fifth bout turned out to be the shortest and was an explosive heavyweight match-up between Marine Kane Dukes and Dwayne Hurrell from St Pirans ABC.

From the start, Dukes went for his opponent, forcing an early standing count. With his man on the ropes early in round two, the Western Counties corner threw in the towel to give Dukes an emphatic victory.

The final match of the night had promised to be one of the closest as national championship silver medallist Dom Owoo, from Barton Hill ABC, stood up against Marine Dominic Zieba at 86 kilos – a contender for the Navy's Inter Services team.

The fight never really seemed to get going, and sadly, it was brought to an end early, after Zieba suffered a cut to his left eye. It levelled the competition at 3-3, but the Navy retained the title as the holders.