ST Joseph’s Boxing Club staged a show at a packed Pill Millennium Centre featuring 16 evenly matched bouts.

Club matchmaker Dave Exton not only matched with counterparts from Wales but also invited clubs from as far afield as Oxford and Taunton.

Of the 16 St Joseph’s boxers there were three sets of siblings and first up were the Ziga brothers, Mario and Pavel.

Mario came out the victor in his debut, stopping Lukaz Tkacik who represented Eastside Boxing Club in Newport, although it was a loss for elder brother Pavel against Adrian Davila, representing Planet Fitness Tredegar.

Former professional and British champion Gary Buckland was a nervous spectator as he watched two of his sons, Oscar and Gary Jnr, carry on the family tradition of representing St Joseph’s.

Oscar took his first venture into the sport with an entertaining skills bout against west Walian Bailey Webb of the Stallion Boxing Club.

There was no quarter given between elder brother Gary Jnr and Jamie Patterson of the Rhoose Boxing Club.

Both boxers entertained the crowd with a thrilling barnstormer in which both boxers received standing eight counts, Buckland eventually coming out a majority winner on this occasion.

Again, it was mixed results for brothers Gabriel and Axel Hegarty, younger brother Gabriel coming off second best against the English opposition of Evan Brierley of the Windrush Club Taunton. However, Axel boxed superbly against determined opponent Robert Lorenzo of Grange Boxing Cardiff.

Hegarty’s use of lighting fast right-hand counter punching wowed the crowd and the official’s ringside who awarded the older Hegarty sibling the coveted boxer of the night award.

One of the more delighted St Joseph’s victors was light heavyweight debutant Louie Walters who prior to competing, shed a whopping 42kg (6.5 stones). His delight was shared by the whole St Joseph’s team.

Coach Bill Reynolds said, “Louie has proved to be an inspiration, his determination to get himself into shape has been phenomenal, we are all immensely pleased for him.”

With the home show out of the way the preparation continues over the Christmas period as St Joseph’s have entered 10 boxers into the novice championships which start on January 6.

Results (St Joseph’s boxers first): Oscar Buckland skills bout v Bailey Webb (Stallion ABC), Christopher Ross skills bout v Frankie Smith (Apollo ABC), Theo Burke lost majority v Sonny Jones (Stallion ABC), Khalid Selimi won unanimous v Joe Rafferty (Cwmcarn ABC), Aaron Maskell won unanimous v Reuben Simmons (Pontyclun ABC), Gabriel Hegarty lost unanimous v Evan Brierley (Windrush ABC), Reon Wright skills bout v Adam Khan (Grange ABC), Axel Hegarty won unanimous v Roberto Lorenzo (Grange ABC), Mario Ziga won RSC v Lukaz Tkacik (Eastside ABC), Martin Hanus won majority v Palluv Bhandari (Blue Flame ABC), Gary Buckland Jnr won majority v Jamie Patterson (Rhoose ABC), Serhat Aksoy lost unanimous v Jake Akreman (Fleur de Lys ABC), Pavel Ziga lost unanimous v Adrian Davila (Planet Fitness ABC), Mohammed Muzzafer won majority v Saad Muhammed (Tiger Bay), Louie Walters won RSC v Morgan Alderman (Fleur de Lys ABC), Shaful Mamman won RSC v Kieron Wallace (Fleur de Lys ABC).