BOXING: Lydon edged out in final

Lydon, who has been with Shamrock since 2004, started by making it three in a row as he took the Home Counties U20 ABA Championship.

He then faced Birmingham’s Richard Robinson in the National quarter-finals in Surrey.

Robinson was predictable in his approach using his strength in a ‘come forward style’ to continuously put the Luton man under pressure.

It was a wise head that saw Lydon let his superior boxing skills do the talking though, as he used his jab to deter the ever advancing Robinson.

Lydon ran out a comfortable points winner over four rounds to set up a semi-final slot.

There, he took on the unbeaten Dean McNally of Newquay in Birmingham.

McNally at 6’3” has a very awkward style which took Lydon a couple of rounds to figure out as he tried in vain to land his now trademark jab.

Lydon’s new-found focus paid dividends though in the second half of the fight went he started to land his combinations and gain the momentum.

The judges were torn but it was the Torquay man who progressed to the finals by the narrowest of margins.

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