JAMES RICHARDSON issued a sharp reminder that he intends to clinch a third national title but Southampton Golden Ring ABC clubmate Tony Hill received an even sharper reminder.

Twice National Schoolboys champion Richardson scored a comfortable, unanimous points win over David Webb from Eltham ABC at Southampton Guildhall at the start of a campaign which he hopes will end with a third national title belt around his waist.

Richardson's punching was always the more accurate and varied, working well to the body and not just head-hunting. He invariably teed-off first, and his good footwork took him away from any prospect of counters from Webb.

But he allowed his confidence to get the better of him and sloppy defence allowed Webb a couple of openings.

But in the end, Richardson's all-round polish made him a convincing winner on all three judge's cards.

But in the best bout of the evening, club-mate Tony Hill came unstuck against fellow England international Jimmy Mongan from the Trojan Police ABC.

Hill always looked to have an extra edge in class but Mongan showed there is no substitute for hard work, always maintaining his effort throughout.

Hill was content to work in short doubles and to take a breather during clinches in contrast to Mongan who kept beavering away inside and took the contest two rounds to one on two judges cards, while a third gave all three to Mongan.

Marrying work-rate to talent has often been Darren Wyatt's biggest problem, but he managed to ally the two to pick himself up off the floor to score a good win over City of Portsmouth's Danny Back.

Wyatt's talent has rarely been doubted and he showed flashes of it in putting together some good combinations in the first round.

Back made him pay as he sloppily walked on to one in the second round and was forced to take a standing eight count. But he recovered his poise in the third to take a comfortable win

Ryan Bunting - son of former Southampton pro crowd-pleaser Peter - lost in his initial outing.

The 17-year-old heavyweight obviously packs a wallop but lacked the experience and ringcraft to out-manouvre the long left-lead of Richard Howard who had a considerable reach advantage.

The Guildhall show also featured preliminary rounds of the National Association of Boys Clubs' tournament and Southampton ABC's Mattie Tew stormed through to the regional rounds with a unanimous points win over Basingstoke's Eddie Frankham

Tew's greater work rate and force of punching easily gave him the first two rounds but although the well-organised Frankham looked unruffled and relatively fresh, he never stepped up to the plate and Tew dug deep into his reserves to win all four rounds on all three judges cards.

Golden Ring's Mattie Page found The Army's Pete Murray too much of a handful in their NABC contest.

Despite having former Commonwealth gold medallist Chris Bessey in his corner, Murray showed none of his finesse in a style borne of the milling ring.

Page was the much more organised an d stylish boxer, but did not possess the technique to avoid a human buzzsaw and even a point deduction for a crude low failed to alter the result.