Boxing: Glenrothes ace Reo Martin 'robbed' of 50kg final victory at William Wallace Box Cup, says coach

Martin, who has been competing since age five, starred in Stirling during bouts of three two-minute rounds when representing Glenrothes Boxing Club, where he is coached by Stevie McGuire.

The youngster, the son of Glenrothes FC manager John Martin, defeated Scottish champion Ali Arshad 5-0 in day one's quarter-final and also unanimously saw off Eastern District champion Yuli Tsoma a day later before controversially losing the final 3-2 to Liam Boyd – current 52kg Scottish champion who is 18 months older - on a split decision on day three.

His Glenrothes BC head coach McGuire, 60, of Glenrothes, told the Gazette: “Reo did extremely well, I’m proud of the wee guy.

"He’s got real qualities and is improving all the time and going into these tournaments he’s getting a lot of experience.

"This was the biggest event he’d ever fought in, with boxers from 70-odd clubs from all over the UK and there were a couple of European clubs there too.

"For him to come through a hard draw like that was great and he should have won the final hands down.

“He clearly landed more scoring punches than the other guy, knocking the guy’s head back all the time.

"I don’t know what the judges were looking at and I went off my head. I feel robbed, but that’s amateur boxing for you.

"You get ones that you’re not supposed to get, don’t get me wrong, and you get losses which are hard to bear when you know your boxer’s won.”

A fantastic tournament for Glenrothes BC novice fighters also saw fellow club member Ewan Campbell, 19, of Glenrothes, win gold in the lightweight class with a final success by second round stoppage against home fighter Josh Alexander, a Scottish champion and Scotland internationalist.

And Glens clubmate Sean Matthew, 24, of Kirkcaldy, landed a light heavyweight silver medal after winning his first two fights before being defeated in the final.

Glenrothes BC, which has 19 registered boxers, has four professionals.