Joe Maphosa left to fly the flag for Teesside in ABA Championships following narrow defeats for Louis Cunningham and Kalam Leather
Joe Maphosa has been left to fly the flag for Teesside in this season’s ABA Championships following narrow defeats for Louis Cunningham and Kalam Leather in the Tyne, Tees and Wear Elite Finals.
Flyweight Maphosa has been seeded through to the quarter-finals in Liverpool on April 25 as the No 3 in his division.
The 20-year-old is the last Middlesbrough-area man standing following Cunningham and Leather’s gutsy losses, reigning ABA super-heavyweight champion from Skelton Tony Richardson’s absence due to Army duties and the late withdrawals of Adil Hassan, Ross Jameson and Tom Blenkinsop.
“Joe is training well,” said Maphosa’s coach at Middlesbrough ABC, Tony Whitby.
“He is set to face an unseeded boxer in the quarters, and I think he would then face Jack Bateson in the semis.
“Bateson beat Joe in the semis last season but it was very close.”
Wellington’s former ABA light-middleweight finalist Cunningham lost a split decision to ex-welterweight runner-up Lewis Ritson (Forest Hall) in the TTW finals at Rainton Meadows Area.
Team-mate Leather - whose twin brother Josh is an unbeaten professional - lost a unanimous verdict to Houghton’s Josh Kelly but gave the flashy defending light- welterweight champion all he could handle.
“Cunningham’s bout was very close, to be fair,” said Wellington ABC trainer John Dryden.
“He landed more shots, while Ritson might have landed the bigger shots, but there really wasn’t anything in it. A late burst might have got Ritson over the line.”
Dryden added: “Kalam really did well. He had an excellent defence and countered every time he got caught. He looks like he is getting as good as his brother.”
The championships came too soon for South Bank lightweight Jameson, but he is set to box in Belfast in June.
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