Cracking start to season for Braid boxer Steven

Steven has been progressing at a steady pace securing his place into the senior ranks of the sport. Thursday night saw Steven defeat St Paul’s Gerard Matthews in a gruelling bout in the Dockers club, Belfast. This came two weeks after a late call up in an Ulster v Cyprus clash in which he fought Belfast boxer Sean Magee from Ligoniel ABC. Both these boxers have already boxed at senior elite level but could not topple the determination of Boxer Richmond.

Steven had hoped to travel to Dublin to participate in the under 21s national tournament but pulled out due to muscle damage sustained over the last few weeks in training and exacerbated during Thursday bout.

A disappointed Richmond will not be deterred and is focussing now on the senior Elite in January which will see him pitted in the very top level of Ulster and Irish boxing.

Steven took the first fight against Magee at 3 days notice and despite injury settled into the fight with ease, neither of these two boxers gave Steven anything to worry about and he feels at home fighting at this level.

Club coach John Mcleister states: “Steven needed to step up to more challenging boxing bouts.

“This was the right time to do this and despite taking a calculated risk by taking the Magee fight at very short notice we knew his strength would fend off any attacks coming at him. We have been working on defence and counterpunching and this has paid off. Stevens’s strength, speed and southpaw style will make it difficult for anyone.

“Steven is gutted that he couldn’t participate in Dublin but at only 19 he has two more years to go chasing that title.”

Meanwhile the junior section of the club have also been in action with four of our newest recruits making their debuts in the boy 1 2and 3 Ulster Novices, all four boys Jacob Badshaw, Richard Moore, Chris Hagan and Pat McDonagh competed and put on really excellent displays.

Steven Richmond's brother Chris who also competed In the Co Antrim Intermediates fought bravely however was denied the winner of the semi final bout against Gleann boxer Raymond Ginley.

“Chris was obviously disappointed in his semi final performance may well consider his next move, which will probably be at 71kg as opposed to fighting at 75kg, which we feel suit him better. “Overall the club is absolutely buzzing, we have added additional coaching staff in the form of former Coleraine boxer Steven Taggart who has already made an impact with some of our junior boxers.

“We are currently planning our first fight night of the season, which should take place in December/January, which will display all our junior team showing off what wealth of talent we have representing Ballymena on a monthly basis.

“The club is currently looking at new state of the art boxing kit, which will showcase our Ballymena boxers wherever they perform,” added John.