NATHAN Shepherd won the 69kg Yorkshire Challenge title as Henry's Gym completed a clean sweep of victories again at their Acomb home.

All seven host fighters won their bouts with 20-year-old Shepherd proving the highlight after earning a split decision over City of Hull's Tyler Gott to clinch county honours.

John-Patrick Harker won with a first-round knockout, meanwhile, as Jack Marshall, Elliott Heath, Eddie Croft, Callum Worrall and George Davey also emerged triumphant from their contests.

On another impressive showing from his boxers, former World Championship contender Henry Wharton enthused: "We went right through the card and it's not the first time that has happened, which is all credit to the lads, who are getting the reward for the time and effort they put in.

"We're a formidable gym now and feel we can take on anybody in the country, which is great for a little city like York. We're not the biggest of gyms either, but we've got six belts now."

On Shepherd's impressive progress in little more than a year, Wharton added: "Nathan's only been in the gym 14 months now, but he's had 13 fights and won 11 of them.

"The only times he has been beaten were at Haringey and in the National Championships and they both came down to split decisions that he could have easily won. Since coming to us, he's never missed a session and that is a great template for our youngsters to follow, because it shows what can be achieved with the right attitude, hard work and dedication.

"Gott was strong and mature and has a good record, so he came to York to win the belt. But the harder the battle, the sweeter the victory and Nathan won because he was the better boxer and landed the cleaner shots.

"I gave Nathan the first round, then the second round was very close, but I think Nathan nicked it in the third."

Wharton is hoping to take Shepherd, among a group of 12 Henry's Gym boxers, to compete at the prestigious Denmark Box Cup in March.

The trip has to be funded by the fighters and assistance from willing sponsors would be welcome.

Anybody interested can email amandawharton@rocketmail.com

Elsewhere, York boxer Michael Fafera won the cruiserweight British semi-professional title, defeating experienced Leeds opponent Mark Holmes over six two-minute rounds at Huntington WMC.

Fafera began in explosive style, flooring his opponent in the first round with a right uppercut, before going on to dominate rounds two and three.

As the contest slowed, Holmes came back into it and edged the final three rounds, but veteran referee Jack Goodwin scored the fight 57-56 in Fafera's favour.

Eight other contests were held, with York fighters George Tate, Dave Blacker, Tom Mannion, Abayo Irene and Luke White also winning.

York Masters' boxer Tom Mennell, meanwhile, lost on points to Rotherham’s Shaun Law, while there was a fantastic performance from Scarborough’s Ricky Petruska, who won on points in a barnstormer against Mansfield’s Jev Blake.