Local amateur boxing received a significant boost at the recently-held Welsh Amateur Boxing Association’s senior championships at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff where the O’Sullivan family, which hails from Goodwick, maintained its proud record in the sport as cousins Alex and Mikey’s fantastic seasons in the ring were rewarded with Welsh titles and a coveted Welsh vest, writes Bill Carne.
 
They are part of the third generation to be involved in the Noble Art where their respective grandfathers Terry and Dakka were well known locally as being good boxers, with Alex’s dad Wayne and uncle Chris as Welsh senior champions, whilst Mikey’s dad Kev was a very good amateur boxer in his late teens but was already a Welsh kick-boxing champ at the tender age of 11!

 

Sion showed championship form to win his first title . . .

 
Alex boxes out of Merlins Bridge ABC where his dad is assistant coach to Graham Brockway and so is heavily involved in his training, both in terms of work at the club and home, pus care with diet, and so was ringside when Alex’s arm was raised aloft as winner of the 71kgs (light middleweight class) after gaining a unanimous verdict over Christopher Patterson (Pontypridd ABC).
 
In previous rounds he had achieved an identical result over Aaron Marinos (Grange ABC, Cardiff), Brandon Price (Llanelli) and Ashley Purcell (Gelligaer ABC) - and in the final had noisy support from mum Moira, brothers Sion, Kyle and Alfie, who all box at Merlins Bridge, plus grandparents Lena and Terry.
 

And Micky now has five Welsh vests and a British title to his name

 
It was a similar story for Mikey, who had dad Kev in his corner as assistant trainer to Guy Croft and used his experiences to the full as his son was crowned champion of the 57kgs (lightweight) class with a points’ verdict over a very good opponent in Cameron Ashmole (Britton Ferry ABC).
 
As well as the other O’Sullivans cheering him on, Mikey also had grandad Dakka watching nearby and clearly delighted to see him doing so well to gain an amazing FIFTH Welsh vest after others gained in the Minors, Juniors, and Youth (twice) - where last year he added a British Youth championship to his pedigree, again at Cardiff, where he was deserved winner over Paul Smith (junior) from the well-known pro-boxing family in Liverpool.
 

Great ambassadors for our county

 
For Alex, his hard work was also rewarded with his eighth win from nine bouts, plus a narrow defeat which didn’t please the crowd, and he was winner of the Western Division of the Box Cup Competition in his weight category, beating quality opponents in Kian Davies (Carmarthen) and Ashley Davies (Llanelli).
 
Mikey must be one of the most-travelled boxers in the UK because he has visited Colorado, USA for the World championships and picked up a bronze medal after losing on a split decision in the semi-final to the eventual winner; won the Moldavian Trophy in Rumania and also boxed in Romania, and Lithuania.

 

 

And finally . . .

 
So now it is all systems go for Alex and Mikey as they are due to box in the British Finals at Sophia Gardens, where they will take on the very best youngsters from England, Scotland and Ireland – and already working flat out to add to this year’s impressive list of successes.
 
We will be delighted to let you know how they get on because they are a credit to their families, their clubs, their sport and counties of Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion – and of course we wish these two modest and talented young pugilists continued success
 

Stop Press:

 
Alex boxed superbly but just missed out to the eventual winner so picked up a deserved bronze medal, whilst Mikey decided not to go to the finals, for good reason of his own!

PembrokeshireSport.co.uk says a huge ‘Well Done’ to both boxers, whom we are sure we will hear lots more of in the future!