Yorkshire champion Maniar boxes his way into national quarter-finals

Maniar recently made his way into the county final and was crowned Yorkshire champion last week via default, after his opponent had to pull out of their scheduled fight.

The Greenhead college student followed up by taking on Brent Hogan, from the Deganans Boxing Club, in the English Nationals competition and put up another good display.

Zaid was sharp from the offset, using his long range and keeping Hogan at the end of his shots.

He was boxing to his strength, popping his jab out every time his opponent would step into range.

Hogan was struggling to get going and find his rhythm and Maniar finished the first round in style with a beautiful 1-2-3 combination.

After clearly losing the opener Hogan came out with a bit more purpose in round two. Trying to close the gap between himself and Zaid, but Maniar was reading his opponent’s moves well.

Hogan was busy feinting and moving his head, trying to get closer to the elusive KBW boxer. But Maniar kept his jab out and boxed behind it to keep the Darlington fighter away.

Into round three Zaid stepped up the pressure on Hogan, throwing more to the body. He was landing the 1-2 clean then would dip and take his assault to Hogan’s body, slowing him down.

Knowing he was losing the fight, Hogan tried his hardest to close the gap, but Zaid stuck to the game plan and continued to box without getting involved in brawl.

Over three two-minute rounds Zaid put on a dominant performance and boxed beautifully throughout.

He was declared the winner via a unanimous points decision and now moves on to the National quarter-final stages.

Maniar is aiming to make up for lost time as before the pandemic he previously reached the national finals only for his big chance to be taken away when the competition was cancelled.