Barry Morrison lost his title at the Motherwell Civic Centre last night and was left pondering his future after a punch perfect performance from Colin Lynes.
Resplendent in the amber and claret of Motherwell Football Club, Barry Morrison entered the ring to a hero’s welcome from his hometown fans. He is after all the first Scot to hold the British Light Welterweight belt and the only British champion ever to come out of the old iron and steel town in the Clyde Valley.
But despite the party atmosphere, it was never going to be Barry’s night.
In the opposite corner was Colin Lynes, a skilful technician of a boxer who came to Motherwell with a wealth of experience. Not the type of opponent you would ideally want for your first title defence, but then again if you want to be the best in Britain you have to get past the Colin Lynes of this world.
The 29 year old from Hornchurch was the veteran of 31 fights before the Morrison fight and he had only been beaten three times - by Samuel Malinga, Junior Witter, and Lenny Dawes, the latter a fight he took at far too short notice and ended up having to retire after nine rounds.
From the opening bell, Lynes looked the sharper of the two boxers, surprising everyone by the ease in which he could throw his left jab into the face of the oncoming Morrison.
The second round continued in much the same vein and even after a better start to the third from the champion, Lynes was winning the opening rounds with good movement and left jabs to the head.
In the fourth there were signs that Morrison was waking up to the task that faced him and for the next few rounds he tried to close Lynes down and was finding a little more success with his trademark body punches. But there seemed to be no venom in Barry’s work and he laboured to find an answer to the focused boxer that confronted him.
By the ninth, Morrison’s corner were pleading with him to change the game plan. To close the ring off and use combinations to find a way through Lynes‘ cat-like defence. But try though he might, Morrison just couldn’t raise his game and his lack of success left him looking jaded and dejected.
As the fight came to a close, Morrison needed a knockout to win and he went looking for it, but tiredness meant his wild swings were missing an opponent who knew he only had to stay out of trouble to go home a champion.
When the final bell sounded, only Lynes raised his arms. Morrison knew he had been beaten and fortunately we were spared any nonsense from the judges too who unanimously awarded the fight to the Englishman - 116-113, 117-111, 116-112.
For his part, Colin Lynes was superb and he thoroughly deserved his victory on the night.
As for Barry Morrison, the defeat was very hard to take and it left him questioning whether or not he had the hunger to fulfill his dreams of further boxing glory.
“I don’t know what was up with me. He made it difficult for me with his jab. He boxed the right fight, I boxed the wrong fight. I couldn’t get out of first gear. I was expecting him to fight the way he did and I just allowed it to happen.
“I’ve got to assess it myself and when you have a night like that, you don’t know if you want it enough. I will have a holiday and I will see what happens - I will see if I want it. If not I am just going to get hurt.”
When he has had time to reflect, I can only hope that Barry doesn’t throw in the towel. He has far too much talent to give up after his first serious setback.
On the night, Lynes simply fought the better fight, was 110% focused on the job and knew what he had to do to beat a still relatively inexperienced champion.
But he wasn’t up against the same Barry Morrison who KO’d Dean Hickman in the first round at the Fife Ice Arena just over a year ago. And it certainly wasn’t the same Barry Morrison who beat Lenny Dawes to claim the Lonsdale belt in January.
Make no mistake about it. Barry Morrison can come again. He can learn a great deal from this defeat and come back a mentally and physically better fighter. Let’s hope he chooses to do just that.
