Boxing club 'over the moon' with golds clean sweep

One of the fighters from a Surrey boxing club which won seven gold medals at a recent tournament says he is still celebrating the "best weekend" of his life.

Odyssey Boxing Club in Stanwell took home seven gold medals at the Riviera Box Cup in Devon on the weekend, with every boxer winning their final.

Among those was 20-year-old Judah Armah, who hailed the "perfect" weekend and said he had "never received so many hugs and kisses in 72 hours".

"I never thought I would win something as big in boxing, I've only been boxing for three years," he said.

Armah said he turned to boxing in a search for discipline and structure.

He has been given what he craved, and more.

"Boxing changed me mentally. It changed how I operated in my day to day life," he said.

"It gave me a routine, it gave me a clear mind, it gave me an escape."

Armah can now also add tournament success to that list.

The 20-year-old knocked out his first opponent in 50 seconds, "short and sweet", before going on to secure a unanimous win on the Sunday.

Though fresh off a victory, Armah admits he is "itching" to get back in the ring already.

Having moved to the area in January, he "felt the love" of the club straight away, he said.

"Big family, big support," he added.

Key to creating that family atmopshere is head coach Ross Getty, a lifelong boxer who took his passion from Glasgow to Stanwell.

Declaring himself "absolutely over the moon" with the medal haul, Getty reflected on a promise he made after last year's competition.

He said: "We were lucky enough last year to take six and win five golds. I said to the team last year, 'we'll go back and we'll win it'."

And that is what the team did, though it was touch and go going into the last fight, as two teams sat on six golds each.

"Both of us had the opportunity to win a 7th gold medal, and luckily enough that team didn't and we did," Getty said.

In a sport that is "unforgiving", the head coach said it feels "unbelievable" to achieve every target.

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