ALLOA BOXING CLUB put on a strong performance at the Scottish Novice Championships recently.

Competing over two weekends at the Ravenscraig Regional Sports Facility, the club had 10 entries but unfortunately only five had bouts.

First up was the senior stand out of the tournament Blair Lapsley in the 86kg division.

Blair was drawn against a strong southpaw from Elgin and boxed brilliantly, catching his opponent with big check hooks and straight rear hand shots.

In the second round his opponent tried to rush Blair but the Alloa boxer timed a lovely left hook to drop his opponent and force the referee to stop the bout.

Next up was 40-year-old Graeme Beveridge in the 75kg division.

Graeme done brilliantly, taking the fight to his opponent who was 20 years younger than him and just missing out on a split decision.

He dropped more than 10kg to compete at this tournament and showed you are never too old to take up a sport.

Blair was back in action again in his semi final contest against Grant Baillie from Inverurie and started where he left off, taking the fight to his tall opponent and dropping him with an over hand right to get a first round knockout and book his place in the final.

The club’s Jon Whalen was on the wrong end of a split decision in his semi final however the 15-year-old is looking forward to a rematch at Alloa Town Hall later this year.

In his first bout, Luca Allison lost his middleweight contest against an opponent on his sixth bout and Luca gave a great account of himself.

Blair's final fight was against Jordan Hayter from Inverclyde. The first round saw both boys working the jab well; Blair worked his opponent’s body towards the end of the first round.

In the second round Blair’s power took over and he landed a left hook to the head, forcing the referee to give a standing eight count and stop the contest.

With three fights and three stoppage wins, Blair had everyone at Ravenscraig raving about him and everyone from the gym done the club proud.

All fighters will be boxing at the club’s home shown at Alloa Town Hall on May 7.

For more information, visit the Alloa Boxing Club Facebook page.