COLCHESTER’S Lewis Richardson made sure that he finished a supreme season on another high note as he claimed a title at the prestigious Haringey Box Cup.

The tournament is regarded as the largest open boxing event in Europe and the 19-year-old Colchester Centurions fighter, who was in the senior under-75kg category, was delighted with his performance over three gruelling days.

In his opening bout, Richardson, who was coming into it on the back of a victorious debut for England a few weeks before, had a tough opponent as he faced the European-ranked number five.

Overcoming Sweden’s Mariuz Gnas was a daunting task, but Richardson rose to it in style and secured a 3-0 win to set up semi-final against Dagenham ABC’s Phil Maloney.

The Colchester fighter came through that with another 3-0 win to progress into the final, where he defeated Eastside ABC’s Kaisee Benjamin to lift the coveted title.

It was Richardson’s second Haringey crown, but his first as a senior.

He said: “I had previously won as a youth, but it was a lot tougher as a senior.

“My fight in the semi-final was against a 27-year-old, but all three fights were very tough.

“The first one was against someone who had made the quarter-finals and only lost out to the eventual champion at last year’s European Championships, so I was really pleased with my performances.

“It is Europe’s largest open boxing championship and always nice to win, but especially good to be able to finish my season on a high.”

It has been a superb year for the former Thomas Lord Audley School pupil and the Haringey triumph was his third title of the year after victories in the Eindhoven Box Cup in Holland recently and at the NABC championships in December.

Richardson finished with a record of 17 wins from his 18 fights, with his only defeat coming against a boxer who went on to become national ABA champion.

He added: “I was a bit worried stepping up into the senior level this year from being a youth as it’s a big difference, but the transition has gone really well.

“I’ve had some good results against really good fighters, but I think the highlight has to be my call-up for England and I’m now hoping to build on that and break into the Great Britain squad.

“I’ll take a couple of weeks off now the season has finished, but I will then be straight back into training as I want to keep my momentum going to push for the GB squads next year.”

With his desire to breaking into the Great Britain squad for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, Richardson has had to give up a full-time job so he can commit to a more intensive training regime.

He is now working part-time, but is hoping to secure sponsorship backing and anyone interested in helping him can make contact at lewisrich11@hotmail.co.uk