CHIPPENHAM’S Emeralds ABC staged its first show of the season at the Neeld Hall on Saturday, with a total of 16 bouts taking place on the night.

Eight of them featured Emeralds fighters, with 10-year-old Ewan Doig first up for Emeralds against Keenan Smith, of Devon’s Lympstone ABC, in a ‘skills bout, as was clubmate Leo Riozzi, who took on Tyler Hunt, of Swindon’s Horseshoe ABC.

Emeralds only active female boxer, Katie Doig, having her first competitive contest against Lauryn Hitchcock (Lympstone ABC), kept her composure as her opponent came out firing on all cylinders.

The Emrlands fighter started to dominate her opponent with clean, accurate combinations of sharp punches, her clever footwork and high work rate set the mood for the next two rounds as the judges awarded her first win by unanimous decision.

Luca Riozzi, the older brother of Leo, came up against Ewan Martin (Kemsing ABC) who travelled up from Kent and made a strong and busy start to the first round.

Riozzi met fire with fire but missed out on the decision in what was his first bout.

Emeralds’ George Strivens made a good start to what was his first contest against Jack Rutland (Hemel Hempstead ABC) but was caught with a powerful body shot that popped out one of his ribs, forcing him to retire from the bout.

Thomas Hardy (Emeralds) had a thrilling encounter against Kemsing ABC’s Sonny Bennett, for the ‘Emeralds Challenge Belt’, just missing out on the win but putting him in line for ‘Best Home Boxer of the Evening’ honours.

That accolade eventually went to Emeralds last fighter of the evening, Connor Gray, who took on Lympstone ABC’s Shannon Willey.

Gray showed glimpses of great skill and power throughout and was declared the winner in a close majority decision and earned the best home boxer trophy, edging out Hardy and Connor Gray.

Jaden King (Emeralds) came up against Patrick Hastie (Bath City Boxing Club) and emerged with a unanimous points decision with his fast flashy combinations catching the judges’ eyes.