Thomas Cannon Stops Barry Connell To Claim Scottish Title

The Marriott Hotel in Glasgow played host to a wonderful night's boxing on Friday and witnessed a fantastic main event that saw Thomas Cannon force Barry Connell to retire after the seventh round of their tussle for the vacant Scottish Super-Middleweight title.

It was a fitting finale to a great evening that was promoted by Morrison Promotions, on an evening that showcased some of Scotland’s newest prospects on a four fight card.

Both Connell and Cannon entered the ring looking in superb condition and they wasted no time in establishing a high pace that was to continue throughout the contest.

In the opening two rounds it was the quicker hands on Cannon that were giving him the edge as he looked to keep his defence nice and tight and work his way inside before ripping home with short hooks to the head and body.

Connell was trying to work off his jab and had some success as he found a right and a left that thudded into the ribs of Cannon. Connell was marked up after the first round and was still coming off second best in any exchanges in round number two. His gumshield was knocked out in the second from a solid Cannon right hand over the top of a sloppy jab, but the shot never really had an effect on the man from Glasgow.

Connell came out jabbing well in the third and seemed to be using his height and reach advantages to good effect, but suddenly Cannon stepped forward and forced his man back into a corner. He was pounding away on Connell who tried to slip out the side, but got wobbled by a left hook and was forced to hang on.

Cannon then applied the pressure with a right uppercut-left hook-right hook combination that again found its target, but Connell has heart and blasted back with four straights that put Cannon momentarily on the defensive.

I say momentarily because after riding out the storm Cannon blasted his opponent with a left hook that sent Connell's mouthpiece flying to the back of the hall like a bullet. After it was passed back towards the ring the action was waved on again and Cannon stayed in his role as the aggressor.

It was hard to see how Connell was going to get himself back into the fight as round number four commenced, but he dug deep in the round and really started to land some heavy shots on Cannon. After initially shipping two left hooks, Connell sprang into life when he was backed into his own corner. He drilled his foe from Coatbridge with a long right hand, then a left hook, before stepping back to reload with a right hand-left uppercut combination that sent a message to Cannon that things werent over just yet. Thomas now had to fight back and that he did when another left hook caused Connell's gumshield to be dislodged.

Round five was near enough all Cannon. He started with two rapid-fire hooks, which connected, but Connell countered him with a left hook to head and body. After that it was Cannon's punching that was noteworthy as his greater handspeed meant he was constantly getting through with short sharp hooks that Connell could now no longer avoid. Connell tried to punch back, but Cannon was setting such an outstanding pace and kept his man on the backfoot until the bell.

The sixth started badly for Connell who was cut on his right brow near the nose from three left hooks that Cannon crashed into the side of his head. Cannon was himself bleeding from the nose but he continued to break down his opponent with crunching rib-benders taking all the wind out of the sails of Connell. Testament to his bravery and courage though, he tried to punch back under the relentless assault of his opponent. While a right uppercut knocked back Cannon's head, you couldn’t help but feel that the writing was on the wall.

In round seven Connell, who was now badly bruised around the left eye too, did not receive any let up from Cannon who continually backed up his Glaswegian opponent and blasted him with heavy hooks up and downstairs. The crowd were now cheering whenever Barry was punching back, and his heart was now firmly on his sleeve as he used every ounce of remaining strength to try and hold off Cannon.

Hook after hook poured in on Connell who by now was flagging terribly and his corner were having a mini-meeting to decide whether the towel should go in or not. He kept punching back however, but by now the punches were not quite as snappy as they had been in previous rounds.

As the bell sounded to end the round and Connell sat down on his stool it was clear that his corner had seen enough and so it proved. Referee Al Hutcheon was summoned to the corner and notified that Connell had been retired and he waved the bout off.

It was a worthy main event and as well as Cannon's superb pressure fighting, Connell should get great credit for his heart and determination.

Former Scottish amateur champion Chris Black was in action on the undercard in a Light-Middleweight six-twos contest, with Birmingham's Tony Rendell that saw the Coatbridge man improve his record to 4-0 (1 KO).

Small and heavily muscled, Black looked to use his speed advantage to get inside his tall and rangey opponents guard and it was a tactic from which he reaped the dividend throughout the contest. The opening rounds followed the same pattern, with Black stepping inside the wide looping shots of Rendell to power home his swift hooks and left hand to the body.

Rendell was not without his own successes in the first three rounds, and in particular was being quite effective with his body shots, but a low left hand always gave Black room for the counter right hand. More often than not Black took advantage of his openings when they arrived, but couldn't quite apply the sustained pressure required to drop his man in seriously hot water. This was partly due to his over eagerness, but Rendell also did a good job of blocking shots with his gloves and shoulders.

Rendell got going a bit more in the fourth, landing two ripping body shots under the elbows of Black and then keeping the smaller man out of range by using his reach to pick him off from distance. Black was never out of contention in the round for too long though, and a left hook-right hook to the body was followed up by a jab and left hook to the head which made Rendell get back on his bike again.

The best punch of the night came at the beginning of the fifth as Black detonated a right hand bomb on the side of Rendell's jaw, but his chin stood up to the blast and Rendell showed no effect from the punch.

Black's trainers were urging him to straighten his shots towards the end of the round as his opponent was leaving himself wide open by swinging wide and loading up. He stuck by his hooks though and continued his dominance throughout the round and also got the better of a very scrappy final round. After a lot of clinching and fighting on the inside both men were told to tidy it up during the round, and in fairness they did just that.

At the end it was no surprise to see Black being awarded the victory with a 59-56 verdict from referee Paul Graham, and it is the former amateur star who will now look to move onwards and upwards.

Glasgow Super-Bantamweights, and former stablemates Michael Crossan and John Bothwell, squared off in a six-twos contest that was somewhat of a chess match from start to finish. When training together the two men must have sparred hundreds of rounds together and this resulted in each knowing the other's style inside out.

Bothwell took control early on as he made his opponent miss and then countered him with the jab and straight right hand, but still Crossan forced the pace and stalked his man. Bothwell was trying to keep out of harm's way by circling to his right on the ring's outer limits, and whenever he would get trapped on the ropes or in a corner he was never punished as Crossan was guilty of smothering his work.

Crossan was more composed from then on and began to land the more telling shots throughout the rest of the fight, as he would beat Bothwell to the punch, and had noted success with his one-two combination on the way in.

The bout was riddled with untidy clinching and tying-up, but Crossan's pressure proved effective and he kept backing up Bothwell and punching with both hands. Bothwell wasn't able to pick Crossan off as easily, and from this moment until the completion of the six rounds it was more pawns and rooks than jabs and hooks.

However, with this said, it was entertaining to watch two men who knew each other so well, trying to utilise their knowledge and put together round winning displays. As it happened Crossan did this more effectively and took the decision from Mr Graham 58-57, much to the disgust of Bothwell. My own card had it 59-56 in favour of Crossan.

The show opener pitted Coatbridge's Martin McDonagh against Bristol journeyman Jason Nesbitt. It was McDonagh's professional debut, and one he was making in front of a familiar crowd.

Back in October, McDonagh, still an amateur at the time, volunteered to box an exhibition contest with Colin McNeil after McNeils opponent pulled out at the last minute, and thus ensured McNeil`'s fans didn’t go home without having seen their fighter in action.

This fight was far from an exhibition however, and proved to be a very gruelling contest with both men landing some good shots.

In the opening two rounds McDonagh was coming forward and slamming in punches to his opponent's body and trying to shoot the uppercut up the middle. For the most part Nesbitt stayed tight though and looked like he was hoping McDonagh would tire. Nesbitt did open up when McDonagh got sloppy on the defensive side, and he landed some crisp uppercuts when the opportunities presented themselves.

There was more toe-to-toe action in rounds three and four as McDonagh kept the pressure on Nesbitt, who now seemed content to stand and slug it out with the debutant. It wasn't the wisest of moves - although McDonagh got a small cut over his left eye and was bleeding from the nose, he was getting the better of most of the exchanges.

It seemed that, having tasted success with the right uppercut-left hook combination, Nesbitt was trying to force those punches too much. McDonagh was wise to this and would slip them and crack home to the ribs of Nesbitt.

The fifth was an interesting round as Nesbitt began to use his reach advantage to jab McDonagh, only for the Scot to up the tempo once again and force his man back to the ropes. When they were in the clinches the two boxers were talking to one another, and this drew a warning from referee Al Hutcheon to cut out the chat and do more work.

Nesbitt looked very tired coming out for the sixth and final round, and clearly the better and harder punches from McDonagh had taken their toll. Nesbitt tried to bob and weave in a corner to avoid the output from McDonagh but only helped himself to head into two snappy hooks.

Nesbitt did try and fight fire with fire and for a brief moment backed up McDonagh with a wild two-fisted barrage, but it was his last big effort and until the end of the round McDonagh was in control.

Although McDonagh was the superior fighter for most of the fight, the referee's ruling of 60-54 in favour of McDonagh may have been unkind to Nesbitt. It still goes down as a win for McDonagh though and he will now look to improve on this in the coming months.

Posted by scottish-boxing at April 4, 2005 11:45 AM