Scottish Amateur And Professional Boxing
| Scottish Amateur And Professional Boxing |
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Ian Mallarvie got his professional career off to a winning start last night and George McIlroy continued in his winning ways on the Anderson v McClarnon undercard last night.
The opening bout of the night saw the much-anticipated debut of the six times Scottish amateur heavyweight champion, [b]Ian Millarvie[/b]. The man from Hamilton cuts an imposing figure in the ring, standing at 6ft 5in and weighing in at 17st 5 1/2lbs and he got off to an impressive against Welsh journeyman Mal Rice (18st 4lbs)
Possessing massive advantages in height and reach over his opponent, Millarvie settled in behind his solid left jab and peppered Rice (anyone else feeling hungry?) with it for the initial moments of round one.
It brought him openings as Rice tried to avoid it and Millarvie took full advantage, landing firmly with a left uppercut and then a series of right and lefts down the middle, one of which had Rice nodding as if to say “Yeah, you got me.”
Rice was a game opponent though, and always looked to make a fight of it, trying to rush Millarvie at times when he had been hurt. The former amateur star was switched on nevertheless and would simply take a step back to regain his punching range.
For a man so big it was encouraging to see the giant Millarvie moving on his toes so well as he used the ring to set-up different angles for his shots. Also pleasing was his technique of dipping and turning to slip the punches of his opponent and then wheeling away to come back in behind the jab
It was the left jab which again caused the man from Flint trouble in round two as Millarvie worked off it in an eye-catching manner, first with a double left hook and then a straight right-right hook to the body combination. It seemed like only a matter of time before Millarvie would stop his man, but Rice was still in there punching and managed to land two left hooks in close, though disparagingly Millarvie didn’t even seem to notice.
You sensed that Millarvie came out in round three knowing he had the capability to end the fight as he caught Rice with a two handed assault that staggered Rice.
Confidence was so high that Millarvie began to drop his right hand and get up on his toes to put his shots together with notable style, a tactic that had Rice trapped in a corner. From here Millarvie planted his feet and unloaded more straight punches down the pipe of the Welsh trialhorse, hurting him again before the round came to a close.
During the interval between rounds three and four of this six-twos contest, Rice was seen shaking his head to his trainer whilst gesturing to his right shoulder. The referee Victor Loughlin was called into the corner and notified of Rice’s retirement, before walking across the ring to raise the arm of Millarvie and mark the first “W” on his professional slate.
Having never had a big man of any real note, it is no surprise that the Scottish fight fans are buzzing about Ian Millarvie’s prospects on the domestic scene. He has already admitted to being excited about achieving a first for his country.
"I have to admit that the thought of being the first Scot to win the British heavyweight title does give me a buzz but I won't be rushing to it, I'll just have to see how I come along."
Closing a superb night’s entertainment was Stevenson Light-welterweight [b]George McIlroy[/b] (10st 2 3/4lbs), who stopped his opponent Chris Brophy(10st 4lbs) in the last instalment of their battle, scheduled for six two-minute rounds.
With very little in the way of action in the opening four rounds, McIlroy found himself trailing by three rounds to one on my scorecard going into the penultimate two minutes. Having been extremely cautious throughout the fight, McIlroy was again urged by his trainer Arthur Melrose to engage the scrapper from Swansea.
Still seeming more content to move his head than throw a punch, McIlroy was finally sparked into life when Brophy came at him with both cannons firing. The young Scot exploded with a left hook combo to the body then the head, before stepping in with a vicious one-two that detonated off the jaw of Brophy and sent him face first to the canvas. He was up at four, and after a timeout to replace his gumshield was all set to continue, but McIlroy never had time to pressure the knockdown before the round was over.
The final round had McIlroy, 4-0-1 (2 KOs), aiming to finish the fight and he took on the role of the aggressor for the first time in the contest. After slamming some half landing left hooks into Brophy’s ribcage, McIlroy went back to using his jab before again coming forward with a crushing left-right sequence. This time Brophy, 2-7-1, crumpled to the floor, and although he was up at six, referee Loughlin had seen enough to call off the contest at 1:19 of the round.
This was another fantastic event run by Tommy Gilmour. It was great to see so many boxers, both past and present, mixing with the assembled guests and recounting tails of days gone by, not least former world champions Barry McGuigan and Pat Clinton.
Many thanks to Gavin McLeod of Doghouse Boxing for covering the action for Scottish Boxing. The action was filmed by Setanta and Sky also had cameras present, interviewing fighters and so on, so expect at least some coverage of the night on your TV screens in the near future.