Shropshire Star

Wellington pin their hopes on Husan Hussain

Husan Hussain will carry the hopes of Wellington Boxing Academy into the busiest weekend of the year for the club.

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The 15-year-old is heading to finals weekend to compete for a national title, in the England Junior Championships, at Sheffield's Ponds Forge Arena.

The Charlton School pupil comes in fresh after a bye to this point at 42kg in the combined boxers born 1999 and 2000 category, writes Craig Birch.

He joins Cambridge University's Lee Andrews, Humslet's Harry Price and Croxteth's Anthony Rollinson - his scheduled quarter-final opponent - in the weight class' computerised draw.

The quartet will box semi-finals on Saturday with the victor's contesting the national title 24 hours later, which would be Wellington's first since forming four-and-a-half years ago.

Trainer Mo Fiaz said: "We are excited about Husan, he's trained hard for this and we have got him quality sparring to make sure he's ready.

"He's been in there with national champions all over the Birmingham clubs and hasn't looked out of place. He's fast, sharp and can do damage."

The Fiaz family will travel up with Hussain with Dad Mo and sons Amir and Aroon heading back on Saturday night, for their club show at the New Bucks Head's Whitehouse Hotel.

Amir, 19, and Aroon, 22, will then enter the first regional round of the England Elite Championships on Sunday, which will be held at the Irish Centre in Digbeth, Birmingham.

Both are former national semi-finalists in the competition's old senior ABAs and enter at 69kg and 75kg respectively.

Mo and other son Kamran will, they hope, be back up in Sheffield manning Hussain's corner for the decider, having seen Idris Mohammed fall one fight short of finals weekend on Sunday.

There will be no time for the Ercall Wood Technology College student, also 15, to mope though. He's back in the ring with Harry Hughes, from William Perry in Tipton, on the club show.

A docked point for Mohammed proved costly after his Junior national quarter-final against Kieran Sutton, from Wirral Community, at the Croxteth Sports Centre in Liverpool.

He started like a house on fire before the pace was upped further as Sutton tried to outwork him come the second, the penalty occurring as he battled against the jab in the last session.

Their 60kg battle, again boxers born 1999 and 2000, went to the cards where Sutton got the nod on a split decision, Mohammed bowing out after three keenly-contested bouts.

Mo Fiaz added: "Idris has developed throughout the championships and is already talking about competing again next year.

"We will be working in the gym to make him even more aggressive and get him sticking to his boxing more. He will then put him forward for the Redditch Box Cup in April."

Dinner tickets are still available for the club show on Saturday, costing £40 with a four-course meal. Standard passes, at £10, can be bought on the door. For information, call 07891 772 259.

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