ST Joseph’s Boxing Club again showed its muscle at Pill Millennium Centre in front of a packed crowd from both sides of the Irish Sea.

As many as 30 amateur boxers took part in an action-packed show which saw a St Joseph’s Select squad take on an Ulster Select team in a fixture that has been running since 1987.

It will be the Newport club’s turn to visit their Irish counterparts next, and they can go to the Emerald Isle happy with a good night’s work on Saturday.

Shane Lewis, Jordan Thomas, Henry Price, Ethan Frayling, Zain Smith, David McDonagh and Rico Price were among the winners for St Joseph’s.

Colm McCann, Oran Keddle, Brett McGinty and Conor Wallace secured victories for the visitors, with Wallace’s coming in the final contest of the show against Dan Barton, who was making his comeback to the ring following a year out through injury.

And to give the supporters full value for money, boxers from clubs including Cirencester, Warley, Tylorstown, Heads of the Valleys and Merlins Bridge were brought in to ensure a 15-fight bill.

“The main thing was that the bouts were well matched,” said St Joseph’s coach Bill Reynolds. “Dave Exton went to great lengths to get as many competitive fights as possible, which is difficult to do over the phone.

“We were unfamiliar with them and they were unfamiliar with us, and although we have the boxers’ records on paper, that doesn’t mean a lot.

“But the reaction of the crowd, the fact they stayed for all 15 bouts, and cheered whole-heartedly for both sides was great to see.”

Reynolds and his fellow coaches have a busy period coming up with a number of the club’s professionals fighting and the amateurs getting ready for the Welsh ABA Championships.

And it is events like Saturdays that Reynolds believes really shows how well a pro-am gym can work.

“Pro-am gyms are often frowned upon in the county but St Joseph’s is a perfect example of how it can work,” he added.

“You can have four or five novices training alongside world-ranked professionals, so it can only be good for those coming up through the sport.”

The most noise at the Pill Millennium Centre was saved for the showdown between Barton and Wallace.

The Welshman came into the fight on the back of a long spell out due to a broken hand, so it was perhaps understandable that he wasn’t at his sharpest.

Barton came on strong in the last of the three rounds but Wallace had already done enough to secure a unanimous decision from the judges at ringside.

Back to the start of the evening and John Coffey was maybe slightly unlucky not to get the verdict in his clash with Ulster’s Oran Keddle.

However, there then followed a run of three wins for the St Joseph’s team courtesy of Sammy Harris and schoolboys Rico Price and Lewis Varey.

The Ben Wetter-McCann bout was one of the closest of the night and a split decision went the way of the Irish youngster.

Six more successes for St Joseph’s featured a first-round triumph for Frayling against Ruairi Bryson, whose corner threw in the towel just before the bell, while prior to that McDonagh and Smith defeated Camerons Barrows and Friel respectively.

Another split decision saw Henry Price get the better of Paddy Loughlin, Dylan Hayward impressed against Dominic Doyle and Solomon Dacres showed his class when beating Andrew Gibbons.

In the middle of those contests was an exhibition bout between Dino Price and Edward McEleney.

McGinty may have been given the verdict against Jordan Thomas but you could not question the Welshman’s work rate and heart.

Meanwhile, Lewis was not firing on all cylinders when he faced Patrick Rogers, however, a strong finish gave him a split decision.