THERE was more golden glory for Redditch boxing coach Nigel Lakin and rising star Delicious Iwuchukwu at the weekend’s British Universities Boxing Championships.
The duo, who triumphed at the England Boxing National Championship in October, were again a force to be reckoned with as defending heavyweight champion Iwuchukwu saw off allcomers.
Lakin, of Winyates, said: “The pressure was on us a little bit with Delicious having won this tournament in 2017 and in between becoming England national champion, so we felt the expectations from ourselves and others was understandably high.”
The entry list was very strong this year and boasted three unbeaten fighters alongside Iwuchukwu on Saturday’s opening day.
Iwuchukwu boxed Arlo Stephens, a very accomplished athlete from University of York, on the first day and unusually Iwuchukwu, who stands at 6ft 6in, found himself the smaller man in that contest.
The bout went extremely well as Iwuchukwu won comfortably, inflicting a count on his gigantic opponent in the second round to book his place in the following day’s final.
The final pitted Iwuchukwu against Ajibola Oluwo from De Montfort University of Leicester.
Oluwo had won through to the final in impressive fashion and it promised to be an exciting conclusion to the championships.
Iwuchukwu boxed precisely to instructions and won all three rounds to successfully retain the title he won in 2017 and achieve a hat-trick of national titles in his career thus far.
Lakin added: “Delicious is a tremendous young talent and has worked extremely hard to achieve the level of success we have enjoyed.
“He trains twice a day four times a week and has a strong team of coaches behind him, all pushing to maintain his development.
“We are extremely lucky to have a wealth of coaching expertise at Jewellery Quarter Boxing Club with England national team coach Mick Maguire as performance director, Ant Rogan who also trains the current British powerlifting champion and Jamie Cahill supporting the technical development aspects within the gym.
“I must thank our benefactor Neil Perkins who provides a home for Jewellery Quarter Boxing Club within his state-of-the-art facility, Henrietta Street Gym in Birmingham city centre.
“Neil does a tremendous job supporting the club and facilitating the opportunity for our young people to have wonderful days like we have experienced at the weekend.”
