Last Friday night I had an extremely enjoyable night watching boxing at Victoria Hall in Keighley.

The boxing dinner, which raised a nice chunk of change for Keighley Amateur Boxing Club and Keighley Albion ARLFC, featured a nice dinner followed by three hours of boxing featuring three local lads.

Boxing is one of those sports that I used to watch on TV when I was growing up in my hometown of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

I saw a lot of fights involving Sugar Ray Leonard and Larry Holmes in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and of course the infamous Mike Tyson always seemed to put on a good show, though not always for the right reasons.

But when I watched live action boxing at Victoria Hall last week, I really got a taste of how brutal the sport can actually be.

However the thing that impressed me the most is how well amateur boxing is policed by not only the referees but also how the clubs go about organising the bouts.

As I was seated fairly close to ringside, you could see and hear all the punches thrown by the youngsters.

But when one of the lads landed a devastating punch, the referee had no hesitation in carrying out a standing eight count on the boxer who took the punch. As the boxers were only teens, I think it's a good thing set up to protect them.

Organiser Paul Moore said: "Boxing at this level is bit more policed."

He also explained how the trainers face stringent rules when they set up a bout for their boxers, which is one reason why not all 14 scheduled bouts went ahead on the night.

Overall though I must say it was a great show and one that I'd like to see again.