It was another productive weekend for Carlisle Villa Amateur Boxing Club with the club’s boxers taking part on two shows in as many days.

On Saturday evening, some of Villa’s fighters helped out fellow Carlisle club Border City ABC on one of their home shows, before Villa members travelled to Blackburn on Sunday morning.

Answering the call to help out Border City at their show on only a few days’ notice, Carlisle Villa sent four boxers to compete at the city’s Crown and Mitre Hotel.

First up was Tyler Brockbank who took part in a skills and development contest against Joe Lamming.

But the other three Villa fighters had a long wait, all competing in the final three contests in the 17-bout card.

That made their preparations difficult, but all were ready and raring to go by the time they got into the ring.

Junior boxer Evan Ford was the first of the trio in action, and he was matched up against previously unbeaten home fighter Rogan Marshall.

Ford took the bout to Marshall from the first bell and forced the Border City boxer on to the ropes where the 15-year-old worked the head and body.

He landed several solid shots on Marshall who was unable to counter-attack, and instead, Marshall was having to defend for his life.

The relentless pressure Ford was putting Marshall under didn’t let up, with the Villa lad well up on points at the end of the first round.

There was much of the same in the second round, with Ford’s superior fitness allowing him to throw combination after combination, changing the angle of attack and young Marshall was unable to reply with anything to ward the Villa boxer off.

Heading into the third and final round, Ford knew the bout was already won and he took his foot off the gas and moved around the ring as he tried to keep out of the way of the rushing Marshall who needed a stoppage.

But it was Ford who had his hand raised at the end of the bout, winning by a unanimous decision.

Next up in the penultimate bout of the evening was senior boxer Lee Spencer who was matched against Stephen Lakin.

Fresh from success at Egremont last week, both boxers were keen to be on the front foot but it was the Villa boxer who took the initiative early on.

He used his superior reach to keep the Border City boxer at bay.

Spencer used his best boxing skills to land crisp left-right combinations to the head of Lakin as he was moving forward and his slick footwork kept him out of trouble.

Lakin was desperate to try and get a foothold in the bout but was pulled up by the referee for holding and hitting, with Spencer finishing off the round with a lovely two-phased attack which stunned Lakin momentarily.

Once again, the home boxer needed a stoppage to win the bout and Lakin came out swinging.

But this time, Spencer had his lead hand down and was caught on the side of the head by a looping right hand which forced him on to the ropes.

But good defence from Spencer and poor shot selection by Lakin meant that Spencer was never in trouble and worked his way back to the centre of the ring.

There, the Villa lad moved cleverly around the ring, avoiding the odd swing, to take a unanimous win.

Then, in the final bout of the evening, Josh Irving was matched against Phil Howell.

Irving started excellently as he landed some solid backhands to the head of Howell who could do nothing but sit on the ropes with a high guard.

Inexperienced Irving was a bit overeager, though, and was getting too close smothering his own work when he had Howell where he wanted him.

However, Howell never came back with anything to trouble Howell who took a lead, going into the second round.

At the start of the second round, a straight right from Howell caught Irving cleanly which sent him back on to the ropes where Howell followed up with a left and right to the head.

Irving recovered well, though, and made his way back to the centre of the ring, avoiding any other punches to clear his head.

With the bout finely balanced at one round apiece, both boxers were keen to take the centre of the ring and stood toe to toe at the bell.

Irving’s superior fitness gave him the advantage, pushing Howell on to the ropes but, once again, the Carlisle Villa fighter was leaning on and not landing anything significant from this good position.

Towards the end of an impressive fight, the two boxers were brought back to the centre of the ring where, once again, they stood toe to toe, much to the delight of the crowd.

The bout finished with Irving on the front foot, but it was Howell who took the win on a split decision.

Elsewhere, two young Carlisle Villa prospects in Orlando Quinn, 12, and 14-year-old Romano Renucci travelled to Technique ABC to take part in a skills and development show.

Both boxers gave two quality performances against Taylor Winter and Noah Kellet who both were representing Preston’s Larches & Savick club.

The pair are hoping to have their first scoring bouts at the Villa show. That will take place on April 19 at the Crown and Mitre Hotel. For ticket information, search for Carlisle Villa Amateur Boxing Club on Facebook.

Carlisle Villa have another busy week as they prepare six boxers to compete in Barrow this Saturday.