Pete Spensley had a vision – or, to be less dramatic, an ambitious plan: to run a regular series of dual events, each of 30 junior Muay Thai matches during the day, followed by an adult show in the evening, with fighters from the full Celtic fringe competing with the English for Celtic Challenge Championships, plus a few British championship fights sanctioned by the WRSA. He also had the inspiration that winners of Celtic Challenge belts must defend them within the next two shows. I’m not sure what he’ll do about injuries or even those who just don’t return the belt (send the heavies round?), but the idea is certainly a good one: one of the weaknesses of Muay Thai is how rarely titles get defended.

And how did the first of these promotions, the Battle of Barnsley I on July 2nd, work out? Of course it didn’t match Pete’s original blueprint, but then these things never do, and it came pretty close. The Celtic fringe had thinned, no Welsh, only two Irish, no Isle of Man, but there was a strong Cornish representation (Touchgloves Gym) and the Scots invasion was truly impressive: at one time it seemed every customer at my Hero Sporto stall was wearing an Eclipse gym t-shirt and Carnage and Douglas were out in force, too.

The evening programme became an extension of the daytime junior programme. It was the eighth fight before the term ‘men’ as distinct from ‘boys’ and ‘girls’ was used, but this only served to emphasise the quality of talent in the early teens (and just before) age-group. The number of fights tallied well with Pete’s original idea, something like 26 and 17, and there were half a dozen WRSA British title fights.

The Metrodome is a perfect venue for such an event: leaving aside such questions as ease of motorway access, it offers a large, well-equipped arena that somehow doesn’t look bleak with a small attendance. During the day numbers were relatively low, but the atmosphere was pleasant, if low-key – and probably a deal more upscale than the youngsters had experienced before. I’m not the best person to comment on the day’s fights. Apart from the distractions of running a stall, I don’t have the knowledge of Muay Thai techniques to judge a fight with nine-year-olds. My main impression was of surprising maturity and competence from the fighters, though of course you always get occasional bizarre behaviour with youngsters. I felt sorry for the 20 kg fighter (20 kg – how tiny is that?) who stomped furiously and tearfully out of the ring when he didn’t get the verdict and, even more so, for the macho youth who made a dramatic ring entrance, began the fight with aggressive confidence, then embarrassingly – and with more tears – made no attempt to get up when thrown vigorously in the first minute (in fairness, the explanation of an injury may have been true).

My favourite fighter during the day was, as so often, a loser. Tommy of Golden Team (no surnames in the daytime session) was the soul of aggression from the start, but Kailan of WTBC proved excellent at, first, defence and then counter-attack. Tommy’s reaction was to keep on attacking and that, with Kailan’s precision, made for a most enjoyable fight. When Tommy took a standing eight count in Round 5, he was totally exhausted, but it didn’t stop a final wild attempt at attack. That was for a WRSA title and something of the standard was maintained in other British title fights, Scott (Eclipse) starting and finishing strongly enough to wear down the accomplished Isaac (Touchgloves) and Connor (also Eclipse) keeping on top of Koby (Golden Team) without removing the bounce from him.  What struck me most in the evening was the degree of coolness and balance, the variety of techniques, in the best young fighters, even at weights below 30 kg and going up to the early 40s. Eclipse tinies Corey McLachlan and TJ Everett were both very canny in victory, whilst Joe Tomlin (Higginshaw) against JP Gallagher (Douglas) was a classic match, with Tomlin always winning. The standard of professionalism in the young was best illustrated by Evan Jay (Benfleet), badly mauled by the outstanding Connor Butler (Sasiprapa) early on. Evan could easily have quit after Round 1, but he seized his limited opportunities and stayed in the fight without threatening to win. Oddly enough, the first crash-bash fists-dominated winner of the evening was female, Vicky Wilkinson (Manchester) demolishing Caitlin Faulds (Eclipse) in the 1st round, though it should be said Caitlin was a late replacement. Another fight to interest me was a tough scrappy points win for Thom Willock (Touchgloves) over Andy Hughes (Spartans). Thom had originally been matched with Jake Jenks, the talented Salford youngster whom Billionmore is proud to sponsor. Jake has all the qualities Billionmore wishes to encourage – except the ability to win! He first caught the eye in a flamboyant losing performance (see the report on the Battle of Bolton) and followed that up with another defeat, also at Bolton, a verdict which went beyond controversial to totally inexplicable.

The Jenks-Willock match-up was cancelled after misunderstandings about weight, so the following day I went to watch Jake fight on Darren Phillips’ show at Heywood Civic Hall, always a well-run and friendly event in a very pleasant venue.  Jake’s confrontation with Carl Jackson (Frankie’s Gym) was probably the fight of the afternoon and full of enough twists and turns to send a supporter of young Jake through pretty much every emotion. For the first two rounds he fought brilliantly and looked more decisive and controlled than previously. His range of techniques gave his opponent a hard time: in the 2nd round Carl looked pretty desperate and near to losing his cool. In the end Carl’s salvation was to forget his Muay Thai training and just wade in punching – and young Jake was just not tough enough to make a real defence. The 3rd round went to Carl, the 4th to Jake coming back bravely and skilfully, and a minute before the end of the fight Jake was certainly winning. The last minute made unpleasant viewing for Jake’s friends and supporters: the young star was totally overwhelmed by a stream of head punches which left him on the verge of being knocked out. The decision – a draw – was, I felt, a good one, if only because you could make a good case for either fighter winning. Despite that final minute it was good to see Jake in such good form and to find him so confident and determined after the fight. When he toughens up and gets a bit more ring-savvy, I’m confident that Billionmore will be supporting another champion.   Many thanks to Pete Spensley and Darren Phillips for being so helpful and welcoming. Next Celtic Challenge at Barnsley: September 3rd. Photographs by www.muaythaiphotos.com (Barnsley) and www.howarthphotography.co.uk (Heywood)