LUKE CASTLE'S long journey was worth it as he made it two wins from two bouts in a show at Stevenage Leisure Centre.

And there was also an encouraging win for Southampton Golden Ring ABC clubmate Levi Alpin in his second bout.

In just his second bout Castle faced home club boxer Sid Clarke, a comparative veteran of six bouts, but boxing with great confidence he carried the challenge to Clarke and a second round barrage of punches met with no reply from Clarke, and the referee stopped the contest.

Alpin, meanwhile, shrugged off the disappointment of defeat in his first ring outing two weeks ago when he boxed well to chalk up a first win over Marty Spiers of South Oxney ABC, Alpin gaining a unanimous points verdict.

But there were disappointing set-backs for other Golden Ring boxers at Stevenage.

Having won his first two bouts by stoppages, Sukh Nagra was given food for thought in his senior contest with the vastly more experienced Alan Denis of Stevenage ABC.

Nagra's attempts to find the pay-day punch to win by a stoppage again were thwarted by Denis who had enough ringcraft to keep out of the way of Nagra's southpaw lead.

All three judges saw it Denis's way but the experience will stand Nagra in good stead and make him realise he can't win every bout by a knockout.

Lee Bray was stopped in the second round by Stevenage ABC's Alexis Wolzak.

Bray found Wolzak's wild, all-action style difficult to handle and there were signs he had slipped into some bad habits as he failed to keep his boxing together.

Golden Ring's Rob Goodman showed his inexperience against Leroy Clarke (Stevenage ABC) in losing a majority verdict.

Goodman caught his opponent with a good right in the opening round but instead of moving in to finish the job off, backed off to a neutral corner.

In the second round, Goodman was caught and dropped his hands, and the fact that one judge saw it Goodman's way came as a surprise to many.

ESSO Waterside ABC are hosting a show at the Waterside Theatre, Holbury on November 6. Tickets are available from the Holbury Inn, priced £6 in advance, or £7 on the door.

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.