After enduring a turbulent 19 months that included a forced club relocation and numerous stop-starts to training caused by lockdown and restrictions the Erne Boxing Club finally got back to the competition front this weekend.

Their maiden competition on their ‘Return to Play’ was the HSK Box Cup in Hillerod, Denmark. This international boxing tournament attracted over 300 boxers from nine nations and Erne Boxing Club were the only team representing the island of Ireland.

The club were represented by Anthony Malanaphy at 63.5kgs and Rhys Owens at 60kgs with both competing in the Senior Elite category.

“We took a gamble in using this competition as our return to competition as Anthony Malanaphy has been out of action for almost six years and Rhys Owens hasn’t boxed since November 2019.

Furthermore, neither lad had boxed at Elite level before but I felt their talent was good enough plus they worked extremely hard in their preparations,” said Sean Crowley the Head Coach at Erne Boxing Club.

Any concerns were unfounded as both boxers put in two very accomplished displays of boxing to beat Norwegian and Dutch opposition and capture gold medals.

The return to action was delayed until Sunday morning as both boxers were drawn into straight finals.

Anthony Malanaphy was first in action against Norway’s Sayed Bezmillah in the 63.5kgs final.

Bezmillah was a strong and aggressive southpaw who came out fast looking to pound away at the body. But after weathering an early storm Malanaphy was soon on top and landed with solid right backhand punches.

After establishing control he then punch-picked his way to a clear unanimous points decision.

Rhys Owens buoyed by his team mates performance entered his contest full of confidence against the Netherlands Simon Pormes.

Both boxers started with feints and probed for openings but Owens was first to the punch and gained control of the contest early on.

While adept at counter punching himself, Owens boxed the majority of contest on the front foot applying steady pressure and mixing shots to head and body.

Despite a harsh point deduction in round one for a punch that landed behind the head Owens was always one step ahead of his Dutch foe and boxed his way to a clear unanimous points win.

“It wasn’t about winning medals or bagging wins this weekend, our priority was simply to get the rounds in and just enjoy competing again.

“However, we’ve had good success at this tournament in the past and felt confident we would do well again.

“The club is very proud of the lads, especially with how they managed the pressure of boxing overseas, and we are over the moon to be returning with two gold medals on the back of two fine performances,” added Crowley.

The Erne Boxing Club advise that the Boxing calendar is now quite full again with competitions scheduled right up until the end of the year and that they have a hectic few weeks ahead with boxers competing in the Ulster Senior Championships, Ulster/National Schoolgirl Championships starting next week before heading to the King of the Ring tournament in Sweden next month.

After the great start to season in Denmark this weekend we can no doubt expect to report more success on the horizon from the Erne outlet in the coming weeks and months.