PLATINUM ABC are enjoying a golden summer.
Named Best Team at the Hull Box Cup after claiming five golds, they enjoyed further success at the Monkstown International Box Cup in Dublin.
They headed back to Blackburn with four gold and two silver medals after another outstanding few days.
Gold in Dublin completed a hat trick of box cup golds for John Elam.
The 14-year-old schoolboy won gold at the Hull, Warehouse and Monkstown Box Cups at 50kgs in the space of four weeks.
His two wins in Dublin improve Elam’s record to 48-1.
The only loss came in the final of the Schoolboy Championships in Newcastle in May when Sonny Middleton (Thurrock) edged him out on a split decision.
Coach Michael Haley said: “John boxed the wrong fight. He usually looks to feint and counter, but he was aggressive and got caught too much not moving his head off the line.
“It was still close, but the result was obviously a massive disappointment.”
Elam has put that behind him to win three golds this summer and three of his clubmates also won gold in Dublin.
They were Shaun Thomas-Smith (under 38kgs, Schools), Lewis Smith (under 34kgs, Schools) and Lilly Green (under 48kgs, Juniors).
Siobhan Haley missed out on boxing in Dublin after there were no entries in her weight category or the weight category above.
Michael – her father and coach – says it is hard to match the 2023 European Junior champion.
“’Vonnie’ is a southpaw with fast hands and feet and doesn’t get hit much,” said Michael and she’s good at what she does, winning 41 of 45 contests.
Haley did get a match at the Warehouse Box Cup, going up to 60kgs where she faced Jessica Hartley (Newquay Boxing Academy).
Hartley has won junior honours, but Haley was too slick, handing her a count in the last on the way to a unanimous points win.
Haley has claimed some big scalps this year.
In January, she went to Serbia for the Nations’ Women’s Cup and on the way to gold, her scalps included Jovana Damjanovic, the 2024 European Schools silver medalist from Serbia, and Ekaterina Komarova.
The Russian last month won gold at the European Junior championships in Serbia.
Haley says his daughter has “a massive 12 months coming up”.
Her next target is the European Under-17 Championships staged by World Boxing in Germany in December.
Haley followed her European gold in 2023 with bronze this year and wants to test herself at world level next year with the Youth Olympics and World Youth Championships both on her radar for 2026.
Platinum have already produced a world champion since forming around three and a half years ago.
Lilly Deacon won the World Under-19 Championship in Colorado at 70kgs, but Haley says she hasn’t been in the gym recently.
Haley says he currently has 10 boxers carded “and seven of them have won national titles”.
He added: “We have a small squad and that is how I want it. I would rather put everything into a few boxers than have a lot and struggle to keep them all in the gym.”
