English boy punches judge ... BOOM! (8)
I believe the answer is:
resonate
'boom' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'english boy punches judge' is the wordplay.
'english' becomes 'e' (abbreviation).
'boy' becomes 'son' (synonyms).
'punches' indicates putting letters inside (punch can mean to create a hole in).
'judge' becomes 'rate' (rating is a kind of judging).
'e'+'son'='eson'
'eson' put into 'rate' is 'RESONATE'.
(Other definitions for resonate that I've seen before include "Vibrate sympathetically - ears note (anag)" , "Echo" , "Ring; meet with agreement" , "Resound" , "Vibrate at the same frequency" .)