Boxing: CHB pugilists return with with North Island Golden Glove titles in Taupo

Hastings Giants Boxing Academy trainer Craig McDougal said his two fighters showed incremental gains despite not winning titles in Taupo. Photo / File

CHB amateur boxers Shea Cracknell and Bronson Saunders have come away with titles from the North Island Golden Gloves in Taupo at the weekend.

Cracknell stopped Raymond De Los Santos in the semifinal of the junior novice (fewer than 10 bouts) division before making short work of De Los Santos' fellow Naenae Boxing Academy member Ali Ishmatullah.

"Shea gave Ali an eight count in the first 30 seconds and then stopped him within the first minute of the first round," said Craig McDougal, who runs the Solid Strength & Conditioning Ltd Hastings Giants Boxing Academy.

Youngster Bronson won a crown in his first boxing match when he out pointed Kalai Proctor, of Rotorua, in the mini-cadet U34kg (U10-U12) division.

McDougal's two fighters didn't win titles but he was happy with their progress in what he described as an "exceptionally well-run tournament" over Saturday and Sunday.

Teenager Sam Nicol lost on points to familiar foe Xavier Mata'afa, of Brisbane, who holds a New Zealand passport.

The Napier Boys High School pupil was fighting in the under-52kg junior division, which was a straight final.

It was Nicol's second loss to Mata'afa after he succumbed to the latter in the junior 46kg division at the National Open Golden Gloves in Brisbane last August.

"Xavier had given Sam a boxing lesson but this time Sam showed some good improvement against him," said McDougal of the three by two-minute rounds bout.

Saili Fiso, of Hastings, had a split points loss in the 81kg open division to Jerome Papellane, of the Peaches Boxing Gym in Auckland, in another straight final.

"A couple of judges went Fiso's way and the others went the other way," said McDougal of the 24-year-old barber.

"I thought he did enough as did many other coaches but that's the beautiful game of boxing," he said of the three by three-minute round bout.

McDougal said it was Fiso's second loss from 16 appearances but it was the best he had seen him fight.

Fiso was fighting as a middleweight against a light heavyweight but will drop to his division for the nationals in Rotorua in September.