Wolvercote welterweight Paul Stedman got his season off to a winning start with a determined and polished win over former Home Counties champion Billy Crotty.

The 29-year-old Banbury panel beater kept the Cheshunt man at bay with some solid jabs and neat combinations as he tried to embroil him in a war.

Stedman is already through to the quarter-finals of this year's ABA championships after facing no challenge in the 69kg (10 stone 10 lbs) division.

Hoping to join him at Liverpool later this month are three more prospects from the North Oxford gym, who are boxing in the Home Counties Championship finals at the Thame Leisure Centre on Saturday night.

Former ABA bantamweight finalist Lawrence Lewis has moved up to featherweight and faces Slough's Ian Bailey in what promises to be a tough and uncompromising encounter.

Light welterweight Mark Maisey, who had been due to face Jamie Whitman last weekend until the Abingdon boxer withdrew from the competition, meets Stevenage's Luke Gray.

Light heavyweight Vince Sessegnon completes the Wolvercote trio when he tackles Bishey's Miles Shinkwin.

The Thame event also includes several support bouts featuring Oxfordshire's emerging boxing talent.

Thame bantamweight George Buckland, who has already been crowned Home Counties champion, will join Saturday night's winners to travel to Merseyside on November 15.

But Wolvercote middleweight Chris Wood's title aspirations evaporated as he lost a highly controversial clash with Swindon rival Marlon Reid at Yate.

There was also disappointment for Berinsfield light heavyweight Mikey Joyce, who missed out by a slim margin in the Southern Section finals of this year's CYP/NABC Championship to Kent rival Louis Darling.

In the supporting bouts, Will Healey was edged out by Golden Ring's Mickey Whitehead and Josh Lock emerged on the wrong side of the verdict against Neville Smith (Epson & Ewell).