Rutherglen boxing coach hails amputee boxer's courage after amateur debut

A Rutherglen boxing coach has hailed a fighter’s courage, for not letting amputation stop him from embarking on an amateur career.

Douglas farmer Stevie Craig lost a leg while working on a tractor in his fields, but fought his first amateur fight at Blantyre Miners’ Welfare earlier this month.

And he was entered into the Scottish Development Championships at Ravenscraig last week, one of 11 fighters from Rutherglen-based Durie’s Boxing Club.

Coach Archie Durie said: “Total respect for this young man, he overcame the adds, adapted to overcome his handicap, and has been training away for a few years.

“When he decided to enter a ‘white collar’ fight he got the buzz for boxing, so when my pro boxer Abie Tweedlie asked me if I would let Stevie train at our gym just around two months ago, I said yes.

“Stevie is now a registered boxer at Durie’s Boxing Club and made a piece of amateur boxing history by wearing a prosthetic leg.

“He fought at Blantyre Miners’ Welfare against Davie Irvine from Inverclyde ABC and it was all even going into the third round, but Davie just edged it in the last round to win on points.

“The courage and determination of big Stevie has to be admired. I entered him into the Scottish Development Championships not just to get the experience, but because I think he can win them.”

Also fighting at Blantyre was Nathan Rodden from Dennistoun, but lost out to a much taller opponent in Jordan Hayton from Inverclyde, who won 5-0 on the judges’ scorecards.

Durie said: “Nathan joined us in February and is very small for the weight that he has been boxing at, around 78kgs, so the problem we have is that his opponents are all about two feet bigger than him.

“Jordan wouldn’t let Nathan get close enough to get his