KINGSBRIDGE boxer Ed Hall has continued his promising fighting career after winning his bout and leading his Sandhurst army team to victory.

Hall, who was featured in the Gazette last summer after winning his first-ever bout for Saltash ABC, captained the Old College team to victory over the New College team at Sandhurst in front of about 1,000 people.

Hall, an officer cadet, won the opening bout of 10, which consisted of three rounds of two minutes each.

He said: 'Mine was the first bout of the evening, and also the deciding bout, so if all of the others had ended up as a draw, the result would have been taken from my bout.

'It went the full three rounds, but I won by a unanimous decision.

'Each bout followed a similar format. The opposition boxer would be led to the ring by a piper, before I was led out by a drummer.

'Obviously with so many people there, the atmosphere was pretty incredible, and when I walked past the Old College crowd, following the drummer to the ring, the noise literally erupted from them.'

Hall and his opponent were both awarded trophies after the bout, while he was awarded the belt of the regiment he had been fighting for.

He explained: 'In my case, it was the belt of the Queen's Royal Lancers.

'At the end of the night, all of the boxers got back into the ring for the prizegiving, where it was announced that my team had won the competition and I collected the trophy from the Commandant of the Academy.'

The 24-year-old, who has also played rugby for Kingsbridge RFC, said he had been 'unsure' going into the bout given a lack of practice and the fact that he was up against a southpaw.

He explained: 'Due to my busy schedule, I was unable to get as much boxing training in as some of the other boxers, so the day-to-day training here was pretty important in keeping my fitness up.

'My current rank is officer cadet, and I will be until I commission in December when I will take the rank of second lieutenant.

'I started here at Sandhurst in January and am coming to the end of my first term in a couple of weeks.'

Hall harbours hopes of boxing after leaving Sandhurst, and would be thrilled to resume his promising career back in Devon.

He said: 'This was one of only two chances I am likely to get to box in the next year, and I have no idea what my chances of boxing after Sandhurst will be like. Boxing at Sandhurst is a massive privilege; it only happens twice a year, and there were over 120 people signed up for boxing at the start of term, which soon got cut down to the final 20 boxers.

'It was a real honour to make the final selection, let alone be the captain of the Old College team.

It is understood that Hall is the only current Kingsbridge boxer in action. The Kingsbridge Amateur Boxing Club folded in the 1970s, meaning Hall had to compete in the open show competition for Saltash Amateur Boxing Club against Devonport ABC for his first-ever bout last June.

He knocked out his opponent shortly into the third two-minute round of three at the novice 80.5kg light-heavyweight category.

He had only taken up boxing as 'something to keep my fitness up' after he stopped playing rugby in the late summer of 2010.

He was never an avid follower of the sport prior to that, but began to take an interest in its heritage, acquiring a particular appreciation for 'the respect between boxers and for boxers'.

'I wanted to see if I was capable of it,' he said. 'It's very different to rugby, which is more stop-start, whereas boxing is more intense.

'But I think my good, all-round core strength developed from rugby has helped me.'