Dan (10) and Patrick (16) completed a memorable couple of weeks for Top Yard Boxing Club's Connors family

Connors accepted a bout in Sudbury at short notice against the more experienced Muhammed Nije from Harrow at 35kg and overcame a slow start to claim a unanimous points verdict. The city prospect stayed on the front foot to pile constant pressure on his opponent to win comfortably.

His older brother, 16-year-old Patrick Connors took on Lucio Zuccarello, also from Harrow. Conners, as the shorter, but stockier boxer, knew he had to stick it on his taller well-schooled opponent and he did just that with constant front foot pressure and relentless inside work to the body and head in all three rounds.

The volume of punches thrown by Connors was impressive as was his fitness as he also claimed a comfortable points win to complete a fantastic couple of weeks for the family as another sibling, Jerry Mike Connors, won a National title last month.

Leo Close (15) was in excellent form against Jayden Fearon from Newark Boxing Academy at 64kg in Newark. Close was the busier boxer applying pressure on his opponent from the start. Working on the jab and putting together some good three-punch combinations to win the first two rounds before unleashing some powerful shots to force a third-round stoppage.

Clubmate Westley Smith (16) was in Billericay fighting for an Eastern Counties belt, but found Cabhan Watson a little too strong. Smith started well with straight shots to the head and body to win the first round, but Watson started to wear the Top Yard lad down with clean shots in the second round and he kept the pressure on to win the title.

There was also a brave performance from Top Yard’s Henry Doe (14), who had a close encounter with Arbon Allaraj. In his first fight for the club Doe took on his opponent with two days notice and gave away 2kg. But he didn’t disappoint with a solid performance in all three rounds against the heavier boxer. Doe matched him for skill and power in all three rounds, but lost a tight points verdict.

POLICE CLUB Peterborough Police Club youngsters AliJaan Raja and Theo Heriot showed off their skills at the Eastern Counties Senior Elite championship finals in Billericay.

The local lads took part in supporting non-scoring skills bouts and both impressed. Raja (12) was very classy while dominating his opponent and has now qualified to take part in competitive fights.

Heriot’s fight was stopped in the third and final round after his opponent suffered an nose injury. Heriot had been well on top until the stoppage.