Rutherglen boxing coach Archie Durie claims Kyle McNeil “wanted it more” as he won a Scottish Intermediate title last weekend.
McNeil, from Castlemilk, inflicted a first defeat in 15 fights on Kingdom ABC’s Christopher Fleming to take the prize at Ashgill Resource Centre in Milton, Glasgow, on Saturday.
Fleming had previously won two Scottish Novice titles, and relinquished the Intermediate title to McNeil.
McNeil had won his semi-final at Ravenscraig some five weeks earlier, and had to maintain his weight and keep up his training, before finally landing his final.
Archie Durie, who runs Durie’s Boxing Gym, said: “We haven’t had a senior Scottish title holder at Durie’s ABC since Gary Glover won the same title many years ago, so for Kyle to win this against a real good champion in Christopher Fleming, winning the first round and making sure with a good last round to secure the 3-2 split decision, was brilliant.
“It was a good close bout with Kyle showing he wanted it more.
“I was a well proud coach when they put Kyle’s hand up in victory to collect his well earned gold medal.”
Durie’s boxers Mo Nawa (68kg) and Rajmund Turtak (70kg) were also in action on Saturday at Dundee’s Skyaxe ABC, but both lost by unanimous decision against much bigger boxers.
Nawa lost to Ryan Barton of Glasgow City AB C, while Turtak was defeated by the host club’s Ben Millar.
Durie said: “The much taller Barton kept Mo at long distance in this bout to win by unanimous decision, and it was the exact same for Turtak, giving away almost a foot in height and also unable to overcome the arm reach.
“But this is all part of learning their trade, there were no complaints from myself or coach Davie Rutherford about the decisions – it’s more experience for our boxers.”
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