Top Nick is king of the ring

Apr 10 2003 Christopher Beesley, Ellesmere Port Pioneer

VAUXHALL Motors ABC's Nick MacDonald landed his first national senior title on Friday.

MacDonald, 19, knocked out Lawrence Lewis of the Wolvercoat Club, Milton Keynes, at Bethnal Green's York Hall.

He landed the finish of the night with a left hook-right uppercut combination in the fourth and final round to secure the ABA Bantamweight Championship in his debut season of open-age competition.

The only other Vauxhall boxer to clinch an ABA crown was Paul Lloyd in 1990 and along with Lloyd, Peter McCann and Robbie Davies, MacDonald is only the fourth man from the Wirral to achieve the feat.

Coach Peter Phelan said: 'Nick was suffering from nerves but he started at a steady pace working well behind his jab and creating his own openings. Lewis is two years older than him but has only competed as a senior whereas Nick has over 80 contests under his belt at schoolboy and junior level. He wasn't the best opponent Nick has faced this year but he did his best to make things awkward.

'Myself and George Treble told Nick to feel his way in, not rushing things and he built-up a healthy lead. We could see that he was 13 points ahead going into the final round even though he wasn't boxing that well so we said he should just relax and try and throw a couple of good shots. Boy did he relax!'

He added: 'We're not really fans of knockouts in amateur boxing because that's not what the sport is about at this level but it was certainly a grandstand finish from Nick. He's still learning and we told him that if he took things easy then the big shots would come. All of a sudden he caught Lewis with a sharp left hook which was followed by a big right hand uppercut and it was all too much for the other lad.'

MacDonald will now tackle the best of British as he joins the Welsh, Scottish and Irish champions for the Four Nations Championships in Swansea over the Easter weekend.

He then travels to Pathos, Greece for a warm weather Pre-Olympic training camp between April 29-May 5.