Devastating Hayden storms to National Under 18 crown
By Stephen Leonard
WILLIAM Hayden completed a stunning National Under 18 Boxing Championship campaign with a second-round stoppage of Rokas Baltrukonis of Clane BC that saw him raise the welterweight crown in the National Stadium on Saturday.
The now 11-time National champion was one of three Crumlin boxers who line out in the semi-finals the day before, but the only one of them to make it through.
William Hayden and Gareth Francis from Kickstart after his title success.
Indeed clubmate Killian Geraghty turned in a fine performance, but lost out to the heavily decorated Brandon McCarthy of St Michael’s Athy in the lightweight semis while Peter Vrinceanu was also downed in the penultimate rounds when he met Docklands 64kg opponent Matthew Tyndall.
Hayden, himself, had to negotiate a very tough last-four bout when he came up against recently-crowned Youth Two 75kg champion Tiarnan Mayse.
Yet, the Bohernabreena man, who is unbeaten on the domestic front and only five weeks ago scooped the Youth Two 66kg title, was not fazed by the challenge and worked very effectively on the inside to earn a unanimous 5-0 win.
It set him up for a clash with Baltrukonis in the decider and again the Crumlin star was not long in stamping his authority on this showdown.
While he unloaded some precision head shots, it was his left hooks to the body that inflicted the bulk of the damage and brought about two standing counts for his Kildare rival in the first round and as many in the second before proceedings were brought to a halt.
It marked his second stoppage of the championship, having brought an early close to his quarter-final clash with Monivea’s Ciaran White the week before.
Certainly the title win was made all the more remarkable given the fact that he was stepping up to Under 18 for the first time and was a year younger that most competitors.
What’s more he was moving up from 66kg to welterweight and was fighting in three-minute rounds for only the second time in his young career.
Certainly the strength and conditioning work he has done with Kickstart Fitness Coach Gareth Francis together with his training in Crumlin BC ensured he was well equipped to make the step-up.
“It was great to win the title” Hayden told The Echo. “I thought it would have been harder because of the age difference and having to step up in weight. I was going from 66kg up to 69kg and that’s a big jump.
“It wasn’t the first time I had fought in three-minute rounds. I’d done it in an international in Italy back in February. I prefer it because it gives you more time to pick your shots and think” he added.
Hayden will soon be back competing on the continental stage when he lines out in the European Youth Championships in Bulgaria in September.
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