Williams misses out on gold on his international debut for GB

Cleary's boxer Lewis Williams came away with a silver medal after suffering a unanimous defeat to Russian Aleksei Zobnin in his first international tournament for Great Britain.
Lewis Williams and Morgan Ansell show off the weekend's spoils.Lewis Williams and Morgan Ansell show off the weekend's spoils.
Lewis Williams and Morgan Ansell show off the weekend's spoils.

Travelling away with Team GB for the first time, Williams put in an impressive performance in the GeeBee Cup in Helsinki.

And despite the decision not going his way in the 91kg B final, Cleary’s head coach Edwin Cleary believes the platform is there for Williams to push on to international success.

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“Watching the fight from the UK I could see the improvement he’s making,” said Cleary.

“He’s always been a very good boxer and he’s filling out now which is helping him at the 91kg weight class.

“The GB coaches believed Lewis had won the first two rounds and had done enough to win the fight.

“Lewis boxed extremely well in the first half of each round and once he can establish that throughout the contest they believe there’s not a heavyweight in the world who can compete with him.”

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Next up for Williams is the European Under-22s in Romania later this month before he returns to home soil for an assault on the ABAs.

Meanwhile, fellow Cleary’s boxer Morgan Ansell cruised to a unanimous win for England on Friday to cement her spot as the UK’s number one youth boxer at 48kg.

Ansell, representing England for a fourth time, beat Welsh champion Catelin Cromie, gaining revenge for a defeat to her in Wales last year.

The win owed much to the improvements Ansell has made in the last 12 months and justified her promotion to the Challenge phase of the England Talent programme.

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And according to Cleary, it was an intelligent performance from the Rugby teenager.

“England coach Amanda Coulson said Morgan adapted her tactics really well in what was a great performance.”

Ansell now turns her attentions to the Great Britain Tri-Nations which takes place in May.