BASINGSTOKE Boxing Club started 2015 with a bang as Jacob Gabriel and Bryce Goodridge both won Southern Counties Open Class belts in Chichester.

Light welterweight Gabriel and light heavyweight Goodridge beat former national champions Ahmed Adenas of the Heart of Portsmouth Boxing Academy and Lewie Edmondson of Southampton’s Golden Ring.

Gabriel had already boxed a semi-final in Camberley a couple of weeks earlier against the more experienced Ben White from Hastings.

The Basingstoke fighter enjoyed a unanimous win, setting up his fight with Adenas.

Gabriel had a good start to his final, winning the first round before slowly getting drawn into a fight that suited the strong Adenas.

As the bout wore on, Gabriel struggled to box the way he normally does against the swarming attacks of Adenas, but he managed to land the cleaner punches.

His good work early on earned him a hard-fought unanimous decision from the three judges, and the Southern Counties 64kg light welterweight belt.

Goodridge had also been lined up for a semi-final fight, but Brighton’s Seb Eubank was overseas and unavailable to box, so it meant he moved straight into the final.

He started his final bout against Edmondson in his usual cautious manner, sizing up his opponent, who had started the brighter – arguably winning the first round.

In round two, the Basingstoke man started to find his range and started picking his shots.

This saw him win the second and third rounds with all three judges giving him the nod in another hard contest, which brought with it the Southern Counties belt at 81kg.

Both Gabriel and Goodridge are ranked in the top 10 in England by Boxing News magazine, and will look to build on their successes at next month’s National Elite ABA Championships.

Gabriel reached last year’s semi-final, losing to Great Britain number one Sam Maxwell.

Another Basingstoke boxer, middleweight Elliott Holt, also enjoyed a good win at the earlier tournament in Camberley, when he outpointed Strood’s George Harvey in another tough bout.

All three boxers train daily at the club’s headquarters in Essex Road, open to anyone interested in boxing from the age of 10 upwards.