Two teenagers from Banstead who compete for one of Surrey’s oldest amateur boxing clubs have each been crowned national schoolboy champions.

Maxwell Aslett, 12, and Freddie Taylor, 13, have won the 2019 Amateur Boxing Alliance (ABA) Schools’ Championship belts for their respective weight classes.

Maxwell defeated Thomas Bowels from Haddenham, Buckinghamshire, in an “unbelievable” unanimous decision to claim the title, maintaining a record of five wins in nine bouts.

And that was before Freddie, who remains undefeated in seven matches, overcame John Ward from Camberley in the all-Surrey final.

Both boys compete for the Epsom Amateur Boxing Club (ABC) in the ABA (England) and London ABA, a club which has been training boxers since 1948.

It has been run by Ray Parker for several years alongside his son Robert, who also boxed for the club, and the teenage champions are trained by Robert alongside Joe Harding and James Kilkenny.

Maxwell, who took on boxing to improve his confidence and fitness, said: “Since my national win, I truly believe I’ve accomplished my goal and want to continue this journey to become the best boxer I possibly can.

“I’d like to thank Joe and James for believing in me. This is my start, this is my story, this is my future.”

Freddie is thankful for the coaching he has had at Epsom ABC ever since he started boxing two years ago.

He added: “My coaches Joe, James and Rob give up so much of their time to make me the best I can possibly be for when I got into the ring, and I could never have achieved this without them in my corner.

“I was so excited leading up to the final, and when the referee had to stop to the fight I ran straight over to my corner.

“I just couldn’t believe what I had achieved.”