THE Women’s Winter Box Cup in Leigh featured the return of a World Champion.
Amber Moss-Birch, the 2022 World Youth Champion at 80kgs, struck gold for a new club and at a new weight.
The 19-year-old has relocated from Southampton to Liverpool, switching gyms from Golden Ring to Rotunda ABC.
At only three weeks’ notice, she was offered the chance to enter the Winter Box Cup at 75kgs by Rotunda coach Mikey Albertina.
Moss-Birch decided to roll the dice and was handed a bye through to the final where she met Shauna Kearney (Bunclody), beaten in the Irish Elite final only a couple of weeks earlier.
In her first bout since winning the National Amateur Championship in Derby more than seven months earlier, Moss-Birch won unanimously at Leigh Sports Village.
She said: “It didn’t feel much different [at 75kgs]. I was sharper with my shots and lighter on my feet. I felt good in there. She was a good girl, she was tricky and there was some ring rust, but I proper enjoyed it.”
Moss-Birch had had all 35 previous bouts for Golden Ring in home city Southampton where father Adam Birch is a coach.
She said: “I moved up north about a year ago and had a break from boxing. My relationship with boxing was on a down. GB gave me four months off and I mused the Europeans and a few other tournaments, but I had a well needed break and it was the right decision.”
Once she decided to box again, Moss-Birch contacted Rotunda via Instagram.
“Amber knew Liv [Holmes] and Callum [Makin] and messaged us,” said Albertina.
“I was flicking through the messages on Instagram and when I saw her name I thought: ‘I know that name. She won the World Youths.’
“I knew she had talent. It was August when she messaged and the gym was shut, but I told her she could come in for a one on one.
“Amber said she had fallen out of love with boxing and I told her: ‘Don’t waste your talent.’”
After that initial session, Moss-Birch admitted she then “disappeared for a few weeks” and had a tough return to the gym.
Rotunda had invited an Irish team over for sparring and Albertina said: “Amber sparred the Irish girl and it wasn’t the best.
“I thought she needed something and suggested the Winter Box Cup.
“i knew it was short notice. Amber only had three weeks, but she put the graft in and got the rewards.”
Moss-Birch was a footballer before she made the switch to boxing.
“I was knocking on the door of England trials,” she said, “but it was too competitive at a young age. Dad used to box so I went to the gym to watch him train and ended up trying it myself.”
White Rose teenager Farrah Cunniff won Women’s Winter Box Cup gold for a third successive year.
The 18-year-old from Normanton had won back-to-back youth golds at 60kgs and proved to be just as unstoppable up at 63kgs.
DAZN recorded Cunniff as the hardest-hitting youth during their coverage of the Haringey Box Cup in June when she made it back-to-back golds and she showed that power in her semi-final against Tallulah Pulling (Track and Fitness).
She gave the current Youth champion two counts in the opening round and another in the second to force the stoppage.
That set up a final against Amelia Barker (Phoenix) that she won unanimously.
The doctor had to look at Barker’s nose in the second after Cunniff bloodied it with punches and Farrah knocked her gumshield out in the last.
Coach Sherri Walker says the success in Leigh takes Cunniff’s haul of medals and titles into double figures! Cunniff has also won Haringey Box Cup gold twice, NABGS, Development Championship and the Hull and Manchester Box Cups in her 25-bout career.
Nine of her 20 wins have come inside the distance and, such is her reputation, Cunniff has struggled to get matches this season. Her bouts at the Winter Box Cup in Leigh were her first of the season.
“We can’t get her matched,” said Walker. “We need to get her on the England squad to get her bouts.”
Cunniff, who has avenged two of her losses on her 20-5 record, is currently on the England Development Pathway squad and Walker accepts her style may be better suited to the paid ranks.
“Farrah doesn’t throw a lot,” she said, “but she doesn’t waste a lot. I’ve stopped sparring with her!”
Walker boxed for the Wakefield club under the late John Hall before she took over.
“John got cancer and couldn’t leave home,” said Sherri. “He was going to shut the club down and I took it on with my partner [Kane Adams].
“We couldn’t just sit back and watch the club close. I had my coaching badges because John had asked me to help out.
“We have 15, 16 schoolboys and girls and we are getting to national finals. John died last April and he was over the moon to see how the club had gone on before he passed.”
Cunniff is the club’s latest success story. “Her dad had done a bit with her before she came to the gym,” said Sherri, “and she could throw a one-two and a hook when she came here. She left school with no GCSEs. Boxing is her Plan A.”
Serena Mali (Cleary’s) was another who caught the eye. In a clash of European representatives, Mali outpointed Abbey Molloy (Dublin) in a quality Junior A semi-final at 48kgs.
The long, fast and mobile Mali was comfortable with Molloy coming to her and made sure of a unanimous points win by scoring a knockdown in the last with a counter jab.
Mali went on to face Sophia Sanchez-Infante (Mid Essex) in the final and handed her a count in the opening 30 seconds. Sanchez-Infante showed spirit after that as she came forward looking to land her left hook.
Mali did a good job of keeping her chin out of harm’s way and was more accurate when she let her hands go in the last, firing off long, chopping punches to force a count. She needed only a few more punches before the bout was waved off.
