It was Scottish title glory for Killearn boxer Liam Philip on Saturday as he claimed a tight points win over Alfie Poole in Glasgow.
The bout for the national welterweight belt always looked like being a tight one on paper against a talented Cumbrian opponent and it proved to be so, as Liam was taken the distance for the first time in his short professional career.
But it was the 36-year-old who came out on top on the scorecards 96-95 to secure the Scottish welterweight title in front of a crackling atmosphere filled with fans of both fighters.
Liam is now set to take some time away from the rigours of the ring to enjoy a family holiday – before setting back into battle later this year.
He told the Observer: “It was a tough ten rounds, he was a good boy and fit so he pressed me for the full ten rounds.
“It was a hard, fast-paced fight and several people in boxing circles who were there on the night told me afterwards that you won’t get many harder ten-rounders than that one.
“I’m really glad it was an entertaining fight because those are the ones you want to be involved in, to go into the trenches and see what you are made of.
“In my opinion, I think I won the first four rounds and then he came back into it and I knew that I needed a big finish to get myself back into the fight.
“You’ve got a rough idea of how things are going in the ring, I felt him starting to creep up on me and myself getting more tired and I was thinking ‘please don’t tell me I’m going to run out of steam here’.
“It wasn’t without a stern motivational talk in the corner to get me through it. I had my coach Paul and is also the coach who taught me to box 25 years ago so it was the right team to have in the corner on the night.”
The bout, which was part of a card promoted by Kynoch Boxing Promotions at the Doubletree hotel in Glasgow, was claimed by many in attendance as the fight of the night and Liam was still nursing the sores of victory days later.
He added: “It was a gruelling contest and full credit to the boy because he was hungry and really wanted to win. He had a lot of fans up and I had more than 100 people there so it felt electric in there.
“It was a razor-thin decision and the full room went into silence while the card was being counted so the emotions were really high when I got announced as the winner.
“It’s not just myself investing time in this, it’s my family and my partner and many others as well, so it’s a big deal for everyone and it was just a magical moment.”
