AN electrifying performance by 13-year-old Marc Bonehill was the highlight of a boxing tournament at Sheldon, Birmingham.

Marc faced the aggressive Asif Hussain (Pleck, Walsall), a boxer who had previously beaten him and who started the first round in a rush as if he expected it to be all over quickly.

But Marc weathered the storm with clever defence and then proceeded to give a fine demonstration of boxing. He opened up with accurate, straight punches and gradually forced Hussain onto the defensive. Tempers flared when Marc was punched after the referee had told the boxers to stop boxing at the end of the first round, but this only served to increase his determination and it certainly won the crowd over. The second and third rounds were mostly one way traffic, with Marc gaining in confidence and authority the longer the bout continued and even forcing a standing count in the closing stages. All three judges scored it to Marc by a wide margin.

On the same bill, busy Mike Pardoe, 13, repeated an earlier win over the promising James Connelly (Ironsides, Birmingham). In a scrappy bout neither boxer really took the initiative but Pardoe was the stronger and more determined, scoring particularly well to the body, to take the unanimous decision.

Glen Hodgkins, 12, never got into his stride against the tall Malcolm Melvin (Small Heath) and despite a rally in the third round he lost on points.

At Sutton Coldfield, John Bray, 13, scored a notable triumph when he outpointed popular Mike Bailey (Birmingham City). Bray used his reach advantage to good effect, keeping the aggressive Bailey at bay and scoring well on the move with both hands to take the unanimous decision - to the chagrin of Bailey's noisy supporters.

Another notable triumph came from 13-year-old Dean Conn who outpointed the experienced Lawrence Glover (William Perry, Tipton) at a dinner tournament in Oswestry. Conn gave a strong and skilful performance against an opponent who had had more than twice his number of contests. In a superb bout which seemed to be going one way and then the other, Conn dug deep to produce a powerful and determined third round to clinch the decision - for once a split decision going in the Droitwich boxer's favour.

James Harpa, also 13, was not so fortunate. He walked into a vicious uppercut in the first round against John Jackson (Pleck, Walsall) and found himself on the floor. The referee sensibly decided to stop it as Harpa was clearly dazed.