Undefeated boxer Lewis Roberts has his eyes set on the English title after claiming the Commonwealth Silver title in his hometown of Swindon.
Roberts, who now has a record of 10-0, headlined a bustling night of boxing at Swindon’s MECA, which also saw fellow local talent in Calne’s Connor Gray (11-0) extend his unbeaten career with a points victory.
The 21-year-old prospect had a difficult route to his maiden title, with opponent Jack Hughes providing Roberts with his toughest contest yet, leaving the ring with a bloody lip, but also the all-important victory.
Only going eight rounds of the scheduled ten, Roberts came through adversity well after making a fast start and taking the fight to Hughes in the early rounds, before suffering a cut on both his left eye and his lip, causing the referee to call a halt to the bout.
After reverting to the scorecards, Roberts was given the nod with judges Chris Jones scoring it 77-76 to Hughes, while both Terry O’Connor and Marcus McDonnell had it 78-75 to the Swindonian, meaning that “El Gordito” kept his perfect record intact and walked out of the ring with a belt around his waist.
Promoter at Neilson Boxing, Mark Neilson said that he felt Roberts proved his resolve in his latest win to move to a perfect 10-0 and now looks to compete for a bigger title.
He said: “It was a great fight, it was very bloody he had a cut eye and a cut lip.
“I gave Lewis the first six rounds, I think he was dominating the fight but Jack did edge the last couple in my book.
“He showed a lot of resilience, and it was a good experience for him to get through that and win.
"For his next fight, we are looking at Ash Lane, who was in attendance, for the English title which we are going to try to bring to Swindon.”
Elsewhere, Calne’s Gray, who trains out of Liam Lathbury’s Emerald Boxing Gym in Chippenham, produced a polished performance to out-point Rustem Fatkhullin.
“He had a bit of a functional fight, he had a last-minute change of opponent,” added Neilson.
“More importantly, we are looking at moving him onto titles like the IBO Youth title, against someone who has a reasonable winning record.
“We may even look at hosting that in Chippenham, so that is something we will have conversations about in the coming months.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here