McDonnell claims all important “Bragging Rights!”
By Liam Beardsley at ringside.
In a phenomenal start to the new boxing season, European and Commonwealth Bantamweight champion Jamie McDonnell produced a career best display to outfight a fiercely determined Stuey Hall to capture the British title in front of packed and vociferous Doncaster Dome crowd on Saturday.
In an eagerly anticipated affair that was billed simply as “”Bragging Rights”, both fighters produced a stunning display of courage and determination that contributed towards a fight of the year candidate that left the spectators enthralled throughout.
The blueprint of what was to come was set out as soon as the opening bell chimed as both fighters looked to stamp their authority on the fight.
Hall, who was undefeated in 12 (7 by KO) coming into the fight looked the more aggressive of the two combatants and immediately took command of ring centre and looked to land heavy looking hooks.
Respectful of his opponent’s power, the 25 year old McDonnell duly obliged and tried to circle the Darlington fighter and control the pace of the fight with his pumping jab.
As the round progressed Hall attempted to use his strength to bully the Doncaster man back to the ropes and begin landing his forceful hooks. However, McDonnell’s superior footwork often made him an elusive target as he was continually able to stay out of range and prevent Hall from landing multiple shots.
In a closely fought second round, Hall continued his pursuit of McDonnell hoping his aggression would begin to tell, while McDonnell looked content to fire clusters of counter shots as Hall marched forward.
The pace of the fight intensified further in the third round with both fighters beginning to open up and try to seize the initiative. In a round won by Hall; the 31 year old regularly closed the distance on his younger opponent and began to land some heavy looking right hands, all of which were met with thunderous approval from
The round wasn’t all one way traffic as McDonnell regularly fired back, particularly to the body in the hope of slowing down his aggressive foe in the latter stages of the fight.
Having felt the force of some of Hall’s best punches, McDonnell started the fourth in confident fashion and his class began to show. Throughout the round he was able to land rapid combinations to both body and head while comfortably skipping in and out of range as Hall continuously missed the target with his punches.
Hall gamely tried to re-establish himself in a close fifth round and tried to apply heavy pressure on McDonnell. However, McDonnell’s increasing confidence and experience started to come fore as he stayed in close, firing hurtful looking hooks to the body and regularly pushing Hall back as he came in close.
By the sixth McDonnell began to pull as he used a combination of fantastic footwork and rapid combinations to pepper Hall as he became visibly troubled by McDonnell’s variety and work rate.
The seven and eight round was much of the same as McDonnell was repeatedly able to fire thudding body shots that were beginning to drain the fight out of Hall.
Although Hall was able to enjoy some success of his own, particular when he was able to close the distance and trap McDonnell on the ropes, the more precise and eye catching work was McDonnell’s as a gap in the score cards seemed to develop.
Hall regained some ground in the ninth through persistent pressure as he managed to get some shots home. McDonnell remained untroubled and continued to prove elusive as he demonstrated flashes of defensive brilliance as he bobbed and weaved away from a number of Hall’s blows.
The pace of the fight turned white hot in the final three rounds as Hall became increasingly desperate to turn the fight around. Yet neither fighter wished to give ground and began trading blows at a frantic pace, which received the rapturous applause of the crowd.
McDonnell’s work to the body now seemed to take effect and he was starting to land a dazzling array of hooks, upper cuts and straight left and rights that quickly tallied up the points against an opponent looked to land one single knockout blow.
The twelfth round was arguably the most exciting as Hall desperately perused a knock out to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. He started the round with clear intent and chased McDonnell around the ring in the desperate hope of landing one pivotal punch.
Confident of victory, McDonnell looked reluctant to engaged and tried to coast to victory by keeping out of range and avoiding any unnecessary trouble.
Hall’s work began to look ragged as fatigue began to show. He closed the distance on a number of occasions but the majority of his work was either blocked or evaded by McDonnell.
As the halfway point of the final round approached and Hall clearly tiring, McDonnell once again stepped up his work rate and began to hurt his opponent with an impressive selection of shots. Hall gamely tried to fire back but McDonnell was once again producing the much classier work to take the final round.
The scores that were read out came as no surprise, not least to Hall who graciously acknowledged defeat as McDonnell claimed a 115-113, 116-114 and 116-113 triumph on the judges score card.
After the fight McDonnell was clearly happy with performance, saying,
“I’m happy with my performance and I think I boxed well. Stuey [Hall] was very strong, not necessarily his punches but when he leant in he was very strong physically.”
McDonnell’s win keeps his all-important world title aspirations alive, a view shared by manager Dennis Hobson,
“We [team McDonnell] have a mandatory European title defence which we will get out of the way before Christmas, then next year we’ll start looking towards world level”.
