By Andrew Clarke

Last updated 15:56, Wednesday, 19 March 2008

CLEATOR Moor boxer Martin King has represented his country in an international fight – the first Cumbrian to do so in almost quarter of a century.

King of the ring: Martin, who made his England debut last week, works out at the Cleator Moor Boxing Club

King, 22, found out only three days before the fight that he had been called up, and despite having little time to prepare for his Irish opponent Terry O’Neill, he took the contest all the way before finally losing on points.

“It was great for experience even though I didn’t win,” says welterweight King. “A guy called Samson Aluko had to pull out of the England squad for their match against Ireland and, because the coaches had watched me beat Aluko a few weeks ago, they called me up as his replacement.”

And King feels he gave a good account of himself in defeat against O’Neill in Liverpool.

“He is very experienced and is currently rated as 4th in Britain in our weight category but I gave him a good fight. And it was my 50th fight so it was quite a milestone and a good way to make my debut for England.

“I started slowly but got into it gradually, but he was a strong fighter and I think the judges made the right decision to award him the fight on points in the end.”

Having had a taste of international competition, King will be hoping he, and possibly some of his Cumbrian colleagues, can be included in future squads.

“I hope me getting called up can open the doors for others from this club and the area as a whole. Selectors don’t tend to look this far north for their fighters, stopping at Manchester and Liverpool, so hopefully they’ll bear us in mind in future.”

Meanwhile, King’s clubmate Andrew Donaldson represented his region this week and won by a unanimous decision.

Donaldson beat R Harding, from the Clwyd Amateur Boxing Club in Blackpool.