Summer, Jaya close to being crowned European champs

Summer Grigg with Paul Rutter (left) and Paddy Farrell

THE Birmingham suburb of Kingstanding is within touching distance of gaining a European boxing champ.

Tomorrow (Friday) Summer Grigg, from Second City ABC, will fight for gold in the School Euro finals, staged in Maribor, Slovenia. Only Irish southpaw Louise Joyce now stands between the 13-year-old and a historic victory.

She’ll be joined in the finals by Jaya Kalsi, from Cleary’s gym, in Leamington, who faces Anahit Harutyunyan, from Armenia, in the under 48kg class. Fellow Cleary fighter Serena Mali has collected a bronze.

Jaya Kalsi…one step away from a gold medal

Summer has emerged as something special in Slovenia and Paddy Farrell, boss of Second City, today likened the teenager to “an English Katie Taylor”.

“You know,” he said, “I’m not nervous about the final one bit – that’s how much faith I have in her ability.”

Summer, competing at under 36 kg, dominated Israel’s Arina Hurieva in the quarters, oozing class on her way to a unanimous points win.

In the semi-final, the girl affectionately known as “Pit Bull” showed her power by halting Armenia’s Astghik Khachatryan in the first. Khachatryan took two standing counts before the contest was halted.

Summer joined Second City four years ago, initially as part of the Saturday morning children’s session.

In this, her first full competitive season, she won all five bouts, three by stoppage, and gained the ABA title.

“She is a real talent,” said Paddy, “she does everything perfectly. It’s not the power, but the accuracy, that stops opponents. She’s been sparring with the lads from the get-go.

“When Summer came to our gym, she wouldn’t even talk. She really was in her own shell, a real timid girl. Her mum and dad, Liam and Rebecca, were worried she may get bullied and school.”

Summer has certainly come a long way since then and Paddy praised trainer Paul Rutter for the transformation.

He said: “Paul has spent hours and hours with her. He has been amazing.”

Serena Mali…yet another outstanding Leamington talent

Leamington’s hopes in the tournament have been carried by talented Jaya Kalsi and Serena Mali, both Cleary boxers.

Serena, 14 and boxing at under 46kg, showed fast hands and superb footwork to unanimously outpoint Ukraine’s Daria Liahotska in her opening bout.

At under 48kg, Jaya, 13, produced lightning combinations to beat Maja Kuran of Poland on a 4-1 split decision.

Jaya showed real power in her second bout. Greek southpaw Evangelina Leon Maria made the mistake of going for all-out aggression in the second, suffered two standing counts and was stopped.

It was a much tighter affair for Serena who squeezed past Italian Giorgia La Rosa on a 3-2 split.

In the semis, Serena lost a 4-1 split to Ireland’s Ella Archibold in what became a scrappy affair. A team England spokesperson said: “On another day Serena would be in the final but she leaves with bronze and a great deal of pride from an excellent tournament.”

Jaya put on a performance of power and precision to beat Ukrainian Myroslava Yefremova, 4-1.