ONE of the social events on the boxing calendar that developed during 2007 were the highly-popular open shows staged by Hoxton s Lion Club on Sunday afternoons. Their own headquarters at Pitfield Street, Hoxton, were the venue and the place was always pac

ONE of the social events on the boxing calendar that developed during 2007 were the highly-popular open shows staged by Hoxton's Lion Club on Sunday afternoons.

Their own headquarters at Pitfield Street, Hoxton, were the venue and the place was always packed for these popular shows.

The Lion Club has always benefited from a fine reputation among north and east London's amateur boxing community and among its noted trainers over the years is former world flyweight champion Charlie Magri, who spent a season training the Hackney club's amateurs upon his retirement from the ring in the late 1980s.

Magri makes reference to his brief spell 'training the kids at the Lion Club' in his recently published biography 'Champagne Charlie', which went on sale from last month.

One of the highlights of the Lion Club's touring calendar last year was to accompany near neighbours Repton BC, from Bethnal Green, to the HSK Box Cup tournament in Denmark in October.

Lion Club boxers brought back four silver medals, won by Tony Farmer, Joe Taylor junior, Frankie Payne and Jack England. There was also a fifth medal won by a Hackney boxer as Repton's Lucien Reid won silver. He lives in Haggerston.

The up and coming Gem Cheal won a London Junior novice title for the Lion Club in his first competitive season.

Scandinavia was also the venue for another Hackney boxing success.

Stoke Newington resident Erick Ochieng, who boxes for the Haringey Police BC, won a gold medal at the Angered Box Cup tournament in Goth-enberg, Sweden.

On his way to being voted the best boxer in the tournament, Erick accounted for foreign opponents Nikolai Kodin, Nesham Seifkhami and Kenneth Nehming, whom he stopped in the final on his way to lifting gold.

Unfortunately, there wasn't a second goal medal for Crown & Manor BC, Hoxton, prospect Matthew Chanda.

Earlier in the year, he won a national senior novice title in class A under-57 kilos at HMS Nelson, Portsmouth, and followed that up with a London divisional class B title at under-57 kilos.

But his hopes of a second title in successive years were dashed at the beginning of December when he was outpointed by the talented John Fernandez from Southampton in the national senior novice semi-finals.

Another Hackney boxer to miss out in the final stages of the national senior novice championships was Repton's Clapton-based heavyweight Larry Olubambino, who lost his novices final to the hard-punching stylist Steve Richardson from Leicester-shire.