Callum adds ISKA British title to growing collection

On 24 March at Yarborough Leisure Centre in Lincoln, Callum Thompson won the ISKA Amateur British title at 78.5kg.  His game opponent, Guy Johnson from Felling Warriors, Newcastle simply couldn’t cope with the speed of the Thompson (who is undefeated since joning Shawn Burton’s camp) and failed round after round to land his punches and impose himself. With the victory Thompson becomes the unified ISKA and IKF champion as well as stamping his name firmly on the European scene.

Nobody expected the fight to be so one-sided beforehand and although Callum won every round on 2 of the judges score cards the fight was still very close.

Johnson was confident and had promised to drag the Lincoln man into the trenches, but he just couldn’t get to Callum, who used intelligent boxing skills and sharp counters to negate the offence of an increasingly frustrated Johnson.

The gulf in speed was there for all to see, and Thompson, taking advantage of his lightning fast reflexes, made Johnson miss and countered him with left hooks and right hands all night long.  Although Guy was never in any serious trouble, it was Callum dictating the pace and in control for most of the fight.

As if to prove a point Thompson even physically bullied Johnson at times, wrestling him back on to the ropes before letting his hands go. That definitely wasn’t in the script, as everybody believed Johnson to be the bigger, stronger man, but Thompson showed he was no pushover and could fight in the trenches if need be.

A final push in the 5th round from Guy made his travelling support of over 30 people make some noise, only for Callum to counter once again, causing a capacity crowd to roar the home fighter on and drown out their northern rivals.

Callum took the fight by unanimous decision, but  time should also be taken to congratulate Guy, who, despite having much less experience, pushed Callum all the way.