Kingdom Boxing Club: Gray and Tanahill both victorious during successful weekend for Kirkcaldy club

On Saturday, the Kirkcaldy fighter got the better of Linktown Boxing Club rival Josef Galloway in a last eight ‘Fife derby’ clash in which Gray set a very fast pace from the start which seemed to upset his opponent.

Gray, using his high energy levels to force constant pressure on his coaches' advice, was better in all departments and won all three rounds.

He landed a perfectly timed long right hook in the last round, causing the referee to give Galloway a standing eight count, but the Linktown man was allowed to carry on and bravely finish the fight while knowing he had been fairly beaten.

Moving onto Sunday’s semi-final against Lennon Smith of Kilsyth Golden Gloves ABC, Gray didn’t give the Kilsyth boxer any time to settle, boxing on the front foot by coming forward for the whole fight and changing from southpaw to orthodox to try confuse his opponent.

Going into the last round it was dead equal with two judges each having both boxers up by two rounds and one judge scoring it a draw at one round each.

But Gray’s higher work rate and stronger finish saw him take the final round and he was announced the winner by a 3-2 split decision.

He now goes through to this month’s final at Ravenscraig Sports Facility against Myles McGhee of Dundee’s Lochee Boxing Club.

Meanwhile, also at Ravenscraig on Sunday, Gray’s Kingdom clubmate Faris Tanahill was crowned Boxing Scotland Development C Class champion with a unanimous points victory from all five judges after three rounds against Broxburn Boxing Club’s Cameron Howard.

In a repeat result of the Eastern District final the previous weekend, Tanahill picked off his opponent with some great angled counter punches.

The Broxburn boxer kept coming forward but Tanahill came out on top in most of the exchanges to land his second gold medal within a week.

The Kingdom boxer will next compete at the Boxing Scotland Open Championships, again at Ravenscraig, in mid-February.