Pedro boxers presented with prizes by Ian Napa and John Conteh

Two boxers from the Pedro Boxing Club in Clapton made their debuts last Friday in a Newham Boxing Club show held at the East Ham Working Men’s Club.

Gracian Dymitrow and Dan Cooley both boxed with skill and strength, but it proved not to be a good night for either, with both boxers losing on majority decisions.

The first of the two Pedro boxers into the ring was Dymitrow who faced Chris Lawrence from the Academy Amateur Boxing Club in Luton.

Dymitrow took the centre of the ring from the start and put his opponent on the back foot.

While trying to land his own punches, he was often getting caught by counter hits from his Luton-based opponent.

In round two, the Pedro boxer was caught by a right hook and referee Jumbo Basi gave him a standing count.

Having been behind on points after the first two rounds, Dymitrow became more aggressive in round three.

As Lawrence started to tire, the Pedro boxer was catching him with left and right hooks to both head and body.

Dymitrow convincingly won the last round, thanks to these punches, but ended up on the wrong side of a majority decision.

The second Pedro boxer into the ring was Dan Cooley against another boxer from the Academy ABC Luton, Zesham Javed.

This was another close bout.

Cooley was catching his opponent with some good left jabs, but was also having to take some punches himself too.

In what was three rounds of action, with both boxers throwing plenty of left and right hooks, it was hard to tell who was winning as the bout progressed.

In the end it was Javed from Luton that took the decision.

Two well-known boxers – John Conteh, the former WBC World light heavyweight champion and Hackney’s own Ian Napa, the former British and European bantamweight champion – presented the prizes to the winners and losers.

n Elsewhere, Newham’s George Moughton, 17, bids for a place in the Junior ABA semi-finals in Oxford on Sunday.

Moughton came out on top in a tough contest with Reading’s Oshane Clarke last weekend to book a quarter-final bout against the champion from the Southern Counties, Terry Budge, of St Mary’s.

Competing in the class six, under-63.5kg category, Moughton stepped up the pace after an even first round with Clarke, working well behind his jab.

And Moughton — nephew of former Olympian Graham — went on to clinch a 13-10 win.