Waltham Forest Amateur Boxing Club's Ronnie Nwkakeze is now just one step away from being crowned National Senior Novice champion after a breathtaking semi-final performance.

The 24-year-old, who was a beaten finalist last year, never gave Hoddesdon’s Alfie Patrick a looking in during their 63.5kg Class B bout at Elmbridge The Venue on Sunday.

Faced once again with a taller opponent, the Forest youngster boxed on the inside throughout, as he refused to let his more rangier opponent get into his stride.

After establishing a lead in the opening two sessions, Nwkakeze stepped up a gear in the third, landing a big right-hand that had Patrick facing a standing eight count.

The Forest fighter continued to box on the front foot in the last and ran out a clear 5-22 winner in the end.

Delighted coach Danny Fielder said: “I thought Ronnie boxed very well against an extremely good opponent.

“We told him to get in close as the other lad was taller and could land the right-hand over the top, and he really did smother his opponent by boxing on the front foot.

“Ronnie is an very fit lad and he was able to keep the pressure on throughout all four rounds and his opponent just couldn’t get into his stride.”

The Forest senior will now face Dan Cope of the Gus Robinson club at the Mountbatten Centre, Alexandra Park in Portsmouth on Saturday, where the boxing gets under way at 1pm.

Prior to that Waltham Forest had two debutants in action at the Garden Boxing Club’s maiden show in Pimlico on Saturday.

First up was the pint-sized Danny Fox, who had to be at his best against Lenny Gill from Golden Ring in a very entertaining skills bout.

Following that James McDonagh silenced a very loud home crowd with a first-class performance against L Hogan.

McDonagh proved very strong as he left his opponent facing standing counts in both the first and third rounds on route to securing an unanimous win from the judges.