Early exit for champ

JUSTIN POTTER’S reign as national boxing champion is over after he was eliminated in his opening bout at the national amateur championships in Upper Hutt yesterday.

The Central Auckland fighter made an early exit in the senior 69kg division at the hands of experienced Aucklander Kahu Bentson.

Potter was down in round two before the referee stopped the contest in the third in Bentson’s favour.

In the 75kg division, the 2007 runner-up Nathan McEwen, of Canterbury, earned a fine 12-6 win over Isaac Peach, of Central Auckland.

Another Cantabrian, Luke Searle, made a promising start against Otago’s Nick Leigh in the 81kg division but bowed out in the second round when the referee stopped his fight.

Waiting in the wings for Leigh is national champion Joe Blackbourn, of Wellington-Hutt Valley, who had a bye. NZPA