ALLOA Boxing Club had a record five entries at the Scottish novice championships over the past month at Ravenscraig's sports facility.

First up for Alloa was 12-year-old Ryan Smith in only his second contest. Ryan boxed well over the three rounds before sadly losing on a close split decisions a great experience for Ryan in his first tournament.

Next up in a quarter-final clash was 11-year-old Cailean Miller against a tough opponent from Midlothian.

Cailean showed great maturity for such a young lad throwing some cracking combinations during the contest winning on all score cards to book his place in the semi-final, although he went on to lose his semi-final in hard-fought contest.

Next was 12-year-old Lennon Murray who was dubbed as one to watch by all the coaches before the competition started.

Lennon was drawn was against a boy from Leith Victoria, but their coaches pulled the boy out as he knew how good Lennon was. In the semi-final Lennon was drawn against undefeated Gavin Patience from Jacobite Boxing Club.

The Clacks lad lived up to his nickname Lightning Lennon Murray taking the fight to Gavin from the first round. The Wee County fighter's hand speed is on another level landing five and six punch combinations to win round one.

Round two saw Lennon using his back hand to great effect against Gavin who was a southpaw. However, Lennon come out fast in round three forcing the referee to jump in and give his opponent a standing eight count.

The tough Gavin just managed to see the final bell as Lennon advanced to the final, but after his performance had everyone raving about him.

Sadly, his opponent for the final pulled out after Lennon's impressive display in the semi, meaning Lennon is the new Scottish champion and was announced best boxer of the day on semi-finals day.

Subsequently, Lennon has been invited to attend a training assessment with the Scotland squad in February along with the club's current British champion Billie Baillie.

Senior fighters Harry Forsyth and Lee Nelson lost their bouts with Harry losing by split and Lee getting stopped with a cut eye.

The coaches at the club said that they would like to give special mention to Lennon who has been coming to the gym since he was 9 years old.

One coach said: "This boy shows sticking with it, hard work and dedication mean you will get the rewards."