History-making Dewsbury boxers into national semis

Dewsbury boxers who have qualified for the national semi-finals (from left): Adeeb Ajmal, Moqeet Rehman, Subhaan Mohammed, Rash Khan, Amaar Akbar, Alan Haque and Zee Akbar.

It is almost unheard of in boxing circles for a town of Dewsbury’s size to have four youngsters reaching this stage of a national championships, which are usually dominated by clubs and gyms from larger cities.

The Dewsbury quartet of Adeeb Ajmal, Amaar Akbar, Subhaan Mohammed and Moqeet Rehman will now head to Portsmouth over the weekend of April 2 and 3 aiming for national glory as they bid to bring England Boxing Junior Championships titles back to the town.

Adeeb, boxing out of KBW gym based in Savile Town, will contest the final of the 78kg category as he has received a bye in the semis.

Adeeb faces a big step up in class as he has only had three competitive bouts and is certain to meet a far more experienced opponent as he bids to become a national champion.

Amaar Akbar, boxing out of the Warrior Breed Boxing Club, based on Bradford Road, will be aiming to secure his second national title of the season after securing impressive wins against opponents Harry Fryer and Owen Rees.

Akbar dominated both bouts and booked his place at the National finals by overcoming Rees, who was boxing out of the famous Birtley Boxing Club, in his semi.

Subhaan Mohammed (KBW) previously reached the national quarter-finals but managed to go one better when he came up against Joe Armer from Stocksbridge.

Subhaan completely outboxed his opponent and was clearly the aggressor over all three rounds, drawing blood from Armer’s nose in the third round, and saw his hand raised as the winner by unanimous points decision.

Dewsbury’s fourth representative at the England Boxing Junior Championships finals is Moqeet Rehman, representing the KBW gym.

Rehman has been in fine form this season but faced a tough test as he came up against Sam Turner, of the Croxteth Boxing Club from Liverpool.

Both boxers were determined to reach the national semis and delivered some heavy blows in a closely fought contest.

Rehman took control as the fight wore on and was rewarded with a unanimous points victory to book his place in the finals alongside his Dewsbury counterparts.