Maltese fighters show progress after fine display in Cyprus

A select team of Maltese boxers have just returned from a three-day tournament in Cyprus during which they registered some fine victories besides other positive showings by upcoming fighters.

The group, led by the St Julian's Boxing Club officials, took part in the Limassol Boxing Cup with participation of other boxers from Cyprus, Denmark and Scotland.

The Maltese team started with three consecutive wins.

In the schoolboy category, Max Farrugia (38kg) stopped Cyprus's Bernard Nicos in the second round and Max's older sibling, Zak (48kg) chalked up the second victory of the tournament by having the better of Andreas Giannaki, of Cyprus, in the category for juniors. Giannaki retired in the second round.

In the category for seniors, Haithem Laamouz (60kg) won on points against another home boxer, Titvinitize Giorgi. However, the surprise of the day came from relative newcomer Sean Meli (75kg).

With no previous experience in overseas competitions, he shocked Thoma Andreas, of Cyprus, with a series of jabs and counter punches in another bout from the seniors division.

Meli lost narrowly on a split decision but showed that he is a capable and gifted fighter.

On the second day of the Limassol Boxing Cup, Zak Farrugia notched up another win for the Maltese side at the expense of Baglaridis Georgios.

Although the Malta select boxers did not win any of the finals on the third day, when facing much tougher opposition from Denmark and Scotland, their overall performance was described as encouraging, showing clear signs of improvement.

In Cyprus, coach Scott Dixon also included a number of novices in his selection to garner useful experience on the international scene.

These included Pierre Tonna, Dale Micallef, Matthew Randon and Kai Cauchi.