Fauldhouse Boxing Club coach Pat Toner hoping to host international show

Apr 15 2010 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

PAT TONER led a Fauldhouse boxing invasion to Cyprus earlier this month then revealed his hopes of hosting a special international amateur boxing battle here in West Lothian later this year.

The Fauldhouse Boxing Club coach jetted to the sunkissed island accompanied by promising club quartet of Sean Watson, Scott Forrest, Robert Forrest and Martin Taylor to take part in the annual Limassol Boxing Cup.

It proved to be a trip to remember for the boxers and Toner revealed to the Courier he was looking into venues boasting a big enough capacity to justify inviting the Cypriot’s over to West Lothian later this year.

He said: “It was a great trip and it gave us invaluable experience to see how they train and box in other parts of the world.

“It didn’t do us any harm either to spend a week in a five-star hotel.

“We have been invited back in July but we’ll have to see about that.

“We would like to bring them over to West Lothian but we’d need a venue which could hold a few thousand spectators for that.

“The tournament itself was set up with two fights, one on the Friday and a second on the Sunday.

“But the rules in Cyprus seemed to be a bit different. If you won one day, you lost the other, so every single boxer who won on Friday, lost on the Sunday – and vice-versa.

“It was a great trip though and we’d all like to thank Gerry Gallacher and Fauldhouse Cricket Club for his very generous sponsorship of the trip.”

Each of the four county boxers had the chance to lace up the gloves twice apart from Taylor, who was left gutted at only having one bout.

“I enjoyed the trip and it was a great experience but the bouts didn’t go well,” he said.

“The first guy I boxed was at least 10kg heavier than me.

“But despite that, I managed to win the first two rounds before I tired a bit and lost.

“There was more bad news in my second bout. As I was preparing to take to the ring, Pat and I were told the other boxer had pulled out.

“To be honest, I was raging about that.”

Fellow Fauldhouse fledgling Watson did well during his two bouts, but in one of them left one opponent’s jaw in two places.

Also flying the flag for Fauldhouse were the hugely talented Forrest siblings, Scott and Robert.

Both teenagers are current champs, with Scott a double title holder with the UK and Scottish crowns.

Sixteen-year-old Robert (left) recently followed his young brother into the championship stakes with a stunning majority decision win over Scottish Youth Middleweight Champion Kane Matthews.

“It was a good standard out there,” said Scott (right). “But that was to be expected because boxers from Russia, France and all over the world go there.”

Fauldhouse Boxing Club are hosting their annual show at Fauldhouse Cricket Club on Friday, April 23.

Tickets are available at the door on the night.