Seconds out for a full house

THAMES Valley ABC’S 60th Rumble survived a couple of preliminary bumps to produce a successful diamond anniversary show at Newbury Racecourse on Saturday night.

A long sold-out crowd saw six local fighters in competitive action, two of those winning unanimous decisions in impressive showings.

The evening was attended by one of the club’s founder members, John Pocock, and in addition to ticket takings, benefited by £1,000 from a raffle and auction of items that included a signed Southampton FC shirt and football donated by Charlie Austin, an England rugby shirt signed by Danny Care and boxing memorabilia including a pair of autographed gloves signed by IBF World Heavyweight Champion Anthony Joshua, while Newbury MP Richard Benyon donated a House of Commons branded bottle of whisky.

The ring action saw outstanding displays from Thames Valley’s Jack Tomlinson and Cauley Suttie, who scored respective wins over Welsh schoolboy champion Daniel Jones and Lee Stevenson of Leighton Buzzard’s Rangers club, although decisions went against Archie Jury, Curtis Whitworth, Aaron Duncan and Tom Soanes.

Thames Valley girl Charley Hart Davis had her first skills contest, and Jamie Townend also featured in an action-packed skills bout with Shane Murphy from Finchley.