Blackpool's Sharpstyle Boxing Club starlet Alice Pumphrey takes gold at Nations Box Cup in Serbia

Sharpstyles Alex Pumphrey (right) excelled for England in Serbia

England Boxing took a strong team of 12 female boxers to compete in the ninth Nations Box Cup in Sombor, Serbia.

The tournament is notoriously tough to win, with Russia, China and India among the nations taking part.

Alice proved she was ready for the challenge despite an initial worry – she arrived to discover that her 51kg category had been scrapped.

England’s head of performance Mick O’Driscoll agreed to select Alice for the 54kg category, in which there was a vacancy because a Slovenian boxer had failed to make the weight.

Alice was desperate to compete and made the jump of two weights to take part – this proved a good decision.

The size and height of the opposition made no difference as Alice went straight on the attack in her fight, forcing two standing counts before the referee waved the fight over just a minute into the first round.

The tournament proved to be a great success for the England team, who returned with five golds, four silvers and two bronze medals.

Back in Blackpool, Sharpstyle played host to Olympic Mullinger, the club rated the most successful in Ireland for the last two years.

The show was held at the Layton Institute, with packed out crowd.

There were wins for Oathy Varey, Leighton Birchall, Thomas Varey, John Kerrigan, John Boulton and Alice Pumphrey.

John Tom Varey, Leo Biviano and Levi Barness narrowly lost out.

The bout of the night was the final fight between Levi Barnes and five-time Irish champion Jason Nevin.

Both boxers stood engaging in the centre of the ring for the duration of the bout, which had the crowd on its feet throughout.

Members of the Sharpstyle club on Bagot Street are also looking forward to meeting one of the sport’s all-time greats.

Gold Star Promotions are bringing Floyd Mayweather to Blackpool for a Q&A evening at the Hampton by Hilton hotel on March 1.

Mayweather has requested a meet-up with the Sharpstyle team at his hotel to discuss his career with the young boxers.