Matty McHale wins gold in Scottish Amateur Championships

Lochend's Matty McHale swapped last year's silver medal for gold as he defeated Denniston's Stephen Boyle to become the 2018 Scottish 56kg amateur boxing champion.

Matty McHale

McHale, 20, was desperate to come out on top this time around having made the step up from competing at 52kg.

Lochend head coach Terry McCormack has previously expressed his admiration for a boxer who he believes can go right to the top of the sport and McHale didn’t disappoint at Ravenscraig Sports Complex on Saturday night.

The youngster adds the 
Scottish title to the British 52kg accolade he won in December when he saw off England’s Murray Yuyana by a split decision at Sheffield’s Institute of Sport.

However, he was overlooked for this month’s Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, with the selection committee favouring 2014 bronze medallist Reece McFadden.

Meanwhile, there was further success for Lochend in North Lanarkshire this weekend with Sean Spence coming out on top in his 64kg duel with O’Neil’s Paul Thomas Murphy. Spence, who used to train at Meadowbank, lost in the final two years ago.

In the women’s competition, Nasreen Anderson (51kg) and Gardner Moore (69kg), also of Lochend, won their respective bouts against Midlothian’s Farah Huzair and Lilyella Seaman Craw of Springhill.

However, there was disappointment for Sean Eng in his 69kg contest as he had to settle for silver with the gold going to Tyler Jolly of Bravehearts.

Elsewhere, Leith Victoria’s Gary Fairgrieve won his 91+kg final against Denniston’s 
Nicholas Campbell, but Megan Reid lost her 64kg clash with Springhill’s Lynn Calder.