O'Donnell relishing Commonwealth opportunity
John O’Donnell says he’s ready to make a real statement by ripping the Commonwealth Welterweight title from Craig Watson at the York Hall, London on April 11th. The 23-year-old from Shepherds Bush is relishing his all southpaw clash with Watson and believes it’s the fight that will propel his career to the next level.
“I’ve already held the English title and now this shot at the Commonwealth title has come along,” said O’Donnell who has won all but one of his 21 pro fights. “I believe I can go all the way but I want to do things traditionally and work my way up through the titles.”
O’Donnell had his sights on a British title shot but a planned eliminator for the Lonsdale belt fell through last December with Midlands’s boxer Young Mutley pulling out of their scheduled clash. “I had trained really hard for the Mutley fight and was over at the Breaffy House in Ireland at the Carl Froch training camp.
“I was firing on all cylinders for it and then on the week of the fight he pulled out so it was a sickener but my promoter Mick Hennessy’s got me a straight shot now at the Commonwealth title so I’m over the moon.”
O’Donnell isn’t underestimating the challenge in front of him and says he has a lot of respect for Watson. “I've known about him since he put Amir Khan on the canvas in the amateurs and in my opinion he was robbed of a stoppage win that night. I watched his last fight when he beat Matthew Hatton to win the Commonwealth title. That was a good performance and he’s a strong, tough kid and a southpaw like myself.”
Facing a fellow southpaw isn’t an issue for O’Donnell who enjoyed a glorious amateur career that saw him win Junior Olympic Gold, Junior Four Nations Gold, and a pair of Junior ABA titles.
“It’s never bothered me fighting southpaws, in fact I beat Stuart Elwell to win the English title and he’s a southpaw,” recalled O’Donnell. “I had some good sparring sessions with Junior Witter as well at the Froch training camp in Ireland and he can switch between southpaw and orthodox. You can’t get much better than sparring a former World champ and Junior’s a class fighter.
“Since I heard this fight was in the pipeline I’ve already racked up quite a few rounds in the gym in the last few weeks but I’ll probably look at getting in some extra southpaw sparring now as the fight gets closer.”
O’Donnell will be performing in front of the ITV 4 cameras on April 11th and he’s certainly proving quite popular with the cameras recently. “Before my last fight in Ireland I had to do a photo shoot and I’ve just done another one for the next issue of Arena magazine. I’m sure I’ll get some stick from the lads in the gym but I said I’d try my hand at it anyway.
“Who knows I might be able to pack in the boxing, the modelling is certainly easier than getting punched in the face for a living!” joked O’Donnell. “It was good fun and I enjoyed it but for the next photo shoot I want to have that Commonwealth title around my waist.”
Promoter Mick Hennessy is confident that O’Donnell will shine on April 11th. “I’ve always believed that John is destined for big things and this is a major opportunity for him to shine. It’s a cracking domestic match and a quality Commonwealth title fight. You look at fights like Wayne Elcock and Matthew Macklin for the British title next month and O’Donnell and Watson and these are the kind of matchups that do justice to the great history of those titles.”
O'Donnell's Hennessy Sports stable mate Lenny Daws will provide the chief support at the York Hall on April 11th with further details of the undercard to be announced shortly.
Tickets are on sale from the Hennessy Sports Ticketline Box Office on 0844 888 4402 or via www.ticketline.co.uk.
O'Donnell relishing Commonwealth opportunity
Re: O'Donnell relishing Commonwealth opportunity
Watson will be a good test of O'Donnell's talents. This could be a very cagey clash of styles. O'Donnell has talent to burn, but the experience is with Watson.
Interesting fight
Interesting fight
Re: O'Donnell relishing Commonwealth opportunity
Shame Watson has been brought in again as the away fighter when he is the champion, I still think he will win though
Re: O'Donnell relishing Commonwealth opportunity
the winner should be made mandotry for kell brook!
Re: O'Donnell relishing Commonwealth opportunity
funny how all of a sudden these top welterweights are far more interested in the commonwealth belt than the british! not got owt to do with the fact that no-one wants to fight kell brook!
that hennessey sports presser about john o'donnell must be 600 words long but hasn't got any room for the name of the british champion. perhaps if we don't mention his name and pretend he doesn't exist he'll vacate the belt?
that hennessey sports presser about john o'donnell must be 600 words long but hasn't got any room for the name of the british champion. perhaps if we don't mention his name and pretend he doesn't exist he'll vacate the belt?
Re: O'Donnell relishing Commonwealth opportunity
yeah...or the IBO titledanfoster wrote:funny how all of a sudden these top welterweights are far more interested in the commonwealth belt than the british! not got owt to do with the fact that no-one wants to fight kell brook!
Re: O'Donnell relishing Commonwealth opportunity
I've always said i've always wanted to fight for the British title me, even when I were in t' Las Vegas boxin on me brother's undercard. That Kell Brook could be fightin' the milky bar kid next oh wait the milky bar kid carries a gun doesn't he so maybe not, hahaha dead funny me. Craig Watson?? Oh i'd beat Craig Watson me if we boxed again me I would, definitely. Come to my massive world title fight at the Altrincham Leisure Centre in March, no it's not in America it's just down the road in Altrincham, holds about 500 but 'ome advantage is very important to me.
(this could be from BBN Podcast this week).
(this could be from BBN Podcast this week).
Re: O'Donnell relishing Commonwealth opportunity
apologies for my ignorance, not heard the BBN podcast ...
has matthew hatton been having a pop at / calling out kell brook??
if so i hope for his sake he has done it from a very safe distance ...
has matthew hatton been having a pop at / calling out kell brook??
if so i hope for his sake he has done it from a very safe distance ...
Re: O'Donnell relishing Commonwealth opportunity
At least this is a Decent commonwealth macth up
Not the usaull allegedly Prospect against some African unknown with Patchy record
Although well see on the night wether its watson vs Odonnell
Suggest any other welters looking to get back on scene keep there head down and train incase
theres a late substitute request for this one.
Not the usaull allegedly Prospect against some African unknown with Patchy record
Although well see on the night wether its watson vs Odonnell
Suggest any other welters looking to get back on scene keep there head down and train incase
theres a late substitute request for this one.
Re: O'Donnell relishing Commonwealth opportunity
Yes mr hatton has been taking a pop at Kell (don't apologise), I think he takes a pop at anybody who steals "his" rightful British title crack.....30 odd wins, big connections, SIGNIFICANTLY more media attention than one of his ability might normally expect and never short of an opinion or a call-out....I think you have to question the real reason he's never boxed for the British title and whilst he hasn't he wants to shut up deriding those that have had the cojones (them's balls) to do it!danfoster wrote:apologies for my ignorance, not heard the BBN podcast ...
has matthew hatton been having a pop at / calling out kell brook??
if so i hope for his sake he has done it from a very safe distance ...
Re: O'Donnell relishing Commonwealth opportunity
Craig Watson defends his Commonwealth welterweight title against John O’Donnell in an attractive clash of lean, lanky (I mean lanky), copiously talented yet somehow fragile southpaws at York Hall on April 11.
Watson, the champion from Manchester, famously dropped Amir Khan in the unpaid ranks before dropping a decision (this was after Khan had picked up Olympic silver in Athens) but struggled a little in the early pro days before he moved up to welterweight and won the Commonwealth title with an upset cuts stoppage of Glossop-based Namibian Ali Nuumbembe in eight rounds in 2007 (Craig was winning). The loss sent Nuumbembe firmly back to Namibia, the good ol’ Derbyshire charm a golden memory, while Watson, 26, ventured to Italy and found it all rather less poignant – he was smashed in three rounds by Daniele “Who?” Petrucci early last year in Lazio.
It was obviously a disastrous defeat for the touted Watson against a supposed non-puncher who, just a fight later, failed to dent the mentally fragile Neil Sinclair over 12 rounds in Italy (outpointing the Belfast veteran), both of which encouraged Team Matthew Hatton to chance their arm with Watson in a crack at the latter’s Commonwealth title last May in Manchester. Watson came good, however, winning handily by decision over a man who later licked Ben Tackie, and perhaps we can put that Italian Job down to one of those freak nights, a bit like when Colin Power stopped 15-round king Clinton McKenzie in two rub-your-eyes rounds over 30 years ago. A journeyman called Mickey Flynn once beat Maurice Hope, you know, while James Cook beat Michael Watson.
Anyway, I seriously digress. At 23 O’Donnell poses enough of a threat to Watson to pull off a win here without any hint of an upset. The skilled Londoner, a smooth former amateur star and 15-0 as a pro, was given the Kiss of Death by The Sun when Colin Hart tipped him as one of the best prospects in the country. O’Donnell must have read it, for he ventured to the States for a routine undercard fight to a less-than-routine headliner (the ultimately sleep-inducing Mayweather vs De La Hoya affair) and in front of the world’s press (and a squirming Harty, one of the genuinely good guys in boxing) fought with his hands down, copped several shots and was stopped in two rounds by the kind of opponent, the kind of torito-loving opponent, who insults the real ‘opponents’ out there, the ones who know how to lose in style. Bruce Strauss would have been slashing his wrists.
Still, it was a harsh lesson learned for young John, and he has come back with five wins on the spin, four of them early, to secure this shot. His last opponent, a tiny, rotund German by the name of Suleyman Dag, squared up as another Solano and O’Donnell took no chances and boxed his way to a third-round stoppage in surely one of the most uneven – physically – matches ever seen here or in Ireland (where the fight took place). O’Donnell stands 5ft 11ins (Watson is 5ft 10ins); Daq was probably a foot shorter. It hardly served as a great warm up.
Nevertheless, his chin and huge punch apart, O’Donnell looks like a complete fighter with ability to burn. The same can all be said of Watson, of course, and this looks like developing into a tough, close, ‘either way’ affair, and into a cracking match. O’Donnell is the house fighter on promoter Mick Hennessy’s show and that always makes a difference (sadly), but Watson is the more proven and might carry the harder dig.
Ultimately, it boils down to will.
Watson, the champion from Manchester, famously dropped Amir Khan in the unpaid ranks before dropping a decision (this was after Khan had picked up Olympic silver in Athens) but struggled a little in the early pro days before he moved up to welterweight and won the Commonwealth title with an upset cuts stoppage of Glossop-based Namibian Ali Nuumbembe in eight rounds in 2007 (Craig was winning). The loss sent Nuumbembe firmly back to Namibia, the good ol’ Derbyshire charm a golden memory, while Watson, 26, ventured to Italy and found it all rather less poignant – he was smashed in three rounds by Daniele “Who?” Petrucci early last year in Lazio.
It was obviously a disastrous defeat for the touted Watson against a supposed non-puncher who, just a fight later, failed to dent the mentally fragile Neil Sinclair over 12 rounds in Italy (outpointing the Belfast veteran), both of which encouraged Team Matthew Hatton to chance their arm with Watson in a crack at the latter’s Commonwealth title last May in Manchester. Watson came good, however, winning handily by decision over a man who later licked Ben Tackie, and perhaps we can put that Italian Job down to one of those freak nights, a bit like when Colin Power stopped 15-round king Clinton McKenzie in two rub-your-eyes rounds over 30 years ago. A journeyman called Mickey Flynn once beat Maurice Hope, you know, while James Cook beat Michael Watson.
Anyway, I seriously digress. At 23 O’Donnell poses enough of a threat to Watson to pull off a win here without any hint of an upset. The skilled Londoner, a smooth former amateur star and 15-0 as a pro, was given the Kiss of Death by The Sun when Colin Hart tipped him as one of the best prospects in the country. O’Donnell must have read it, for he ventured to the States for a routine undercard fight to a less-than-routine headliner (the ultimately sleep-inducing Mayweather vs De La Hoya affair) and in front of the world’s press (and a squirming Harty, one of the genuinely good guys in boxing) fought with his hands down, copped several shots and was stopped in two rounds by the kind of opponent, the kind of torito-loving opponent, who insults the real ‘opponents’ out there, the ones who know how to lose in style. Bruce Strauss would have been slashing his wrists.
Still, it was a harsh lesson learned for young John, and he has come back with five wins on the spin, four of them early, to secure this shot. His last opponent, a tiny, rotund German by the name of Suleyman Dag, squared up as another Solano and O’Donnell took no chances and boxed his way to a third-round stoppage in surely one of the most uneven – physically – matches ever seen here or in Ireland (where the fight took place). O’Donnell stands 5ft 11ins (Watson is 5ft 10ins); Daq was probably a foot shorter. It hardly served as a great warm up.
Nevertheless, his chin and huge punch apart, O’Donnell looks like a complete fighter with ability to burn. The same can all be said of Watson, of course, and this looks like developing into a tough, close, ‘either way’ affair, and into a cracking match. O’Donnell is the house fighter on promoter Mick Hennessy’s show and that always makes a difference (sadly), but Watson is the more proven and might carry the harder dig.
Ultimately, it boils down to will.
Re: O'Donnell relishing Commonwealth opportunity
I'll go with the talent of O'Donnell and pick him to win.