Shropshire Star

New duo bring national glory to Len Woodhall's

Boxing duo Raheem Mohammed and Kara Murray are the toast of Len Woodhall's Community Club after bringing national titles to the gym.

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Mohammed went to the top table of national competition for the first time while Murray became a two-time champion,

writes Craig Birch.

The pair, along with fellow national titlists Husan Hussain, Akash Tuqir and Simran Kaur, have followed mentor Khalid Hussain to their new club.

Len Woodhall's - formerly Telford & Wrekin - was renamed by coach Brian Robb to mark the father of former WBC world champion Richie's passing last year.

Their first national honours since the switch has been provided by Mohammed and Murray, who are boxing under their banner after leaving Merridale in Wolverhampton.

Both stepped through the ropes on finals day for Class A (fighters born in 2001) at the Action Indoor Arena in Bristol.

Mohammed, 15, looked to have his work cut out for him against European bronze medallist George Mitchell, from Repton in London, at 50kg.

A game-plan to dictate the pace of the three-round contest eventually paid off, as he went for combinations rather than one-punch attacks.

Mitchell's range deserted him at crucial times and left him prone to counter blows. With the bout in the balance, he came out all guns blazing in the last session.

Mohammed had tired himself out as he clung on to see the final bell, where he could even afford a point off for holding. His crowning glory duly arrived on a points split decision.

Raheem Mohammed

Murray, who had progressed through the tournament on byes, came in for a straight national final at 66kg in the female Class A.

The former England Junior Championship winner took on Olivia Freeman, from Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter, in an all-Midlands showdown.

Freeman was hard to catch until Murray pinned her down off the left hand and scored more regularly, which negated her opponent's tactics over the hard-fought contest.

The cards were called into play, where the five judges went with Murray and again on a split. The 15-year-old jumped for joy at the result.

Kara Murray

Bradley Thompson, of Donnington Boxing Club, couldn't make it two national titles for him in 2016 after losing his Class A decider.

The Schools champion had previously scored a superb victory, unanimously, over three-time national champion Brian Stokes in the semi-finals.

But the 15-year-old was on the wrong end of a split decision as Khahil Osman, from Repton in London, exacted his revenge at 52kg.

Osman lost to Thompson in the Schools final and was in no mood to come off second best this time, putting his all into the contest.

He came out like a house on fire and threw hell for leather at Thompson, who tried to pick his shots while his adversary was gung-ho.

The cleaner punches came from Thompson but he was being outworked and, at times, outmaneuvered by Osman.

Accuracy looked to have tilted the bout in Thompson's favour at the final bell, but the judges went with Osman on a split.

Shabaz Masoud had previously brought home Wellington Boxing Academy's second national title after six years of existence.

Masoud won his final at 56kg in Class D, for boxers born from 1995 to 1997, at Wycombe Wanderers Football Club's Adams Park.

The 20-year-old lives in Stoke-on-Trent, but is a nephew of Wellington head coach Mo Fiaz and has resumed boxing after studying at university.

A victory over Donnington's Liam Davies in the NAGBC area finals had proved to be enough to take him all the way to the decider.

Masoud went toe-to-toe with Jordan Purkis, from Chadwell in Essex, and rolled over him unanimously to bring home the glory.

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