Witter dominates, Corcoran sizzles

Wellington · Post by **Wellington** » 22 Oct 2005, 10:37

Witter dominates, Corcoran sizzles

It was four out of four for Hennessy Sports promoted fighters at the York Hall in Bethnal Green on Friday night, (October 21st), with Junior Witter, Billy Corcoran, John O’Donnell and Dave Stewart all registering victories.

For Witter – who defended his British, Commonwealth and European light welterweight titles against the extremely well supported Colin Lynes - it was a case of getting the job done.

Whilst the 31-year-old had been hoping to secure his 16th stoppage in 18 contests, it was evident from the opening bell that it might instead by a case of getting through an awkward night’s work in order to secure his final eliminator for the WBC title, (currently held by Floyd Mayweather), against Italian Gianluca Branco early next year.

Lynes, by and large, came to survive. For the first four rounds he continually retreated from the circling champion’s onslaughts, tucked up extremely tightly and offered nothing by way of attack aside from the very occasional, cursory jab.

Increased aggression saw him find some rare success in the fifth, but Witter immediately tidied up things in the sixth and almost forced the stoppage with a sustained barrage in a neutral corner that went unanswered.

This set a pattern for the rest of the fight. On every occasion the challenger attempted to come forward, Witter took the openings this provided with relish to rapidly send him back into his shell.

The champion couldn’t, however, force the end and after a scrappy closer, during which Lynes was cheered to rafters by hundreds of loyal supporters, had to settle for scores of 117-112, 116-112 and a remarkable 115-114, despite the fact he appeared to have lost three rounds at the very most.

“I said Lynes was being underestimated beforehand,” said Witter afterwards. “He is very tough, technically good and has an extremely solid chin. He was able to make things very difficult for me.

“I wasn’t that pleased with my performance, I didn’t put my shots together as well as I would have liked, but a win is a win and I am still British, Commonwealth and European champion and I will be a world champion.

“I need that big fight now against a big name. That is what I am hungry for.”

Star of the show was undoubtedly Billy Corcoran. Many saw the likeable 24-year-old as the underdog going into his challenge against English super featherweight champion Roy Rutherford, but their scripts were well and truly torn up.

The Galway born, Wembley based, Corcoran ripped out of the blocks to dominate from the very first bell, mixing in ferocious shots to the head and body from behind a piston of a jab. Rutherford returned to his corner at the close of the opener with a look of relief.

His respite was too short. The challenger landed a peach of a left hook, right hook combination to heavily floor his man towards the end of the second and followed up with a vicious onslaught that was only halted by the bell.

More of the same followed from Corcoran over the next two sessions and the stoppage looked near. Rutherford’s corner perhaps felt the same and compassionately pulled their man out before the start of the fifth, citing a cut.

“I was in the shape of my life for this,” said Corcoran afterwards. “It was my first title fight, so I really dedicated myself to my training. I could have boxed 20 rounds tonight, even at that pace.

“I feel I have come of age. After a couple more fights I want to fight for the British. I really hope that I can sometime next year.”

Corcoran’s fellow Galway man John O’Donnell also looked the business. As a junior amateur he won virtually every title going including Olympic, Four Nations and European gold. He will climb the heights as a pro.

The 19-year-old fights out of the southpaw stance so effectively that he dazzles opponents with his quick hands, as he demonstrated on this undercard in a six round welterweight contest.

His opponent Catweazle Hudson simply did not know what to do with him so abandoned his typical have a go attitude in order to simply survive.

Talented Hennessy Sports lightweight Dave Stewart also took a landslide points decision. He outpointed the wild Judex Meemea, also over six, to line up his soon to be rescheduled eliminator for the British title against Danny Hunt.

Stewart navigated past this potential banana skin with his typical composed, efficient approach. It is hard to see him not progressing to major honours.

mrbassie · Post by **mrbassie** » 22 Oct 2005, 10:42

That's a bit of a spin isn't it?

steve689 · Post by **steve689** » 22 Oct 2005, 14:40

Wellington we know your a Hennessy boy

Witter dominates? Did you watch that fight. I agree on Corcoran though, i had it as a real 50/50 contest going in but Corcoran's accurate assaults had poor old Roy wanting out.

Rutherford's corner were giving him every chance to convince them to let him continue but he wasn't answering back at all apart from "Oh no". He knew it was futile, Corcoran looked impressive.

states · Post by **states** » 22 Oct 2005, 14:46

It must be hard work for whoever writes these press releases to try and spin something good out of Witter-Lynes, that fight was astonishingly dull, and witter looked cack.

Corcoran-Rutherford made up for it though.

steve689 · Post by **steve689** » 22 Oct 2005, 15:06

The undercard was lively, certainly made a nice change. No offence but sometimes watching Jason Collins lumbering forward every week and James Hare in a safety first exercise against a negative Eastern European takes it's toll. Last night's undercard was fresh with some new faces to watch.

stujones · Post by **stujones** » 22 Oct 2005, 16:58

steve689 wrote:Wellington we know your a Hennessy boy Witter dominates? Did you watch that fight. I agree on Corcoran though, i had it as a real 50/50 contest going in but Corcoran's accurate assaults had poor old Roy wanting out.

Rutherford's corner were giving him every chance to convince them to let him continue but he wasn't answering back at all apart from "Oh no". He knew it was futile, Corcoran looked impressive.

Good post, agree.

I picked Rutherford but I knew from the bell starting the second round that he wouldn't win - he didn't look "right" and already had his mouth gaping open. He looked old and tired, I hope he retires.

It was a good stoppage from the corner, BUT I agree with your point - they didn't really want to stop it, Rutherford quit. How many times did they ask him do you want to carry on without a response.

Rutherford has entertained me for a good few years now and been a good championship class fighter - but needs to retire. He was a sharp talker in the Fights of the year show, so maybe he can do a bit of work for Sky.

steve689 · Post by **steve689** » 22 Oct 2005, 17:05

Exactly Stu, Tommy Lynch was like "I think i'm going to stop it" in a passive manner expecting perhaps Rutherford to respond with a "Oh no i'll give it a good go for a round" or something but Roy was just silent. Then Tommy turned to his second and said "Shall i stop it?" waiting for a response. He didn't get one from Rutherford because Roy didn't want to continue, not that i blame him the guy is a trooper, i also hope he retires...good luck Roy

josh fg · Post by **josh fg** » 22 Oct 2005, 18:00

I didn't see the fight (being a poor student without sky [and being drunk on friday night]) but what conserns be is that by the sound of it the reson Witter struggled was that he was against a defencive fighter, what does he expect when he meets Mayweather? It may be as Secondsout suggest that he just wasn't arsed with a domestic show which is understanderble and in that case this could be seen as a sort of sparing session in order to brake his training as hennassy have done with froch befor the adamu fight (which was to be dodson) when he had a undercard fight with Dmitry Adamovich, just a thought.

My T Sharp · Post by **My T Sharp** » 22 Oct 2005, 18:12

Probably a bit of no win for Witter. He wasn't mentally switched on because he didn't fear Lynes, and Hennessey can't put him in with a dangerous opponent because it will put his WBC#1 ranking at risk.

That being said, I think Witter has lost a bit of sharpness which was his greatest asset. Mayweather does counterpunch but he wouldn't be on the back foot as much as Lynes was and to be fair Witter has looked well away from world class in his last two fights.

Manos de Oro · Post by **Manos de Oro** » 22 Oct 2005, 18:39

stujones wrote:I picked Rutherford but I knew from the bell starting the second round that he wouldn't win - he didn't look "right" and already had his mouth gaping open. He looked old and tired, I hope he retires.

Rutherford has entertained me for a good few years now and been a good championship class fighter - but needs to retire. He was a sharp talker in the Fights of the year show, so maybe he can do a bit of work for Sky.

Yes, good suggestion. There's a chance he might succeed in some sort of TV role - he has quite a distinctive voice. I hope he retires too, though if he does return I think it should be at feather: it was mostly strength that won the fight for Corcoran, who has a few things to work on, but looks like he could make a bit of money.

josh fg · Post by **josh fg** » 22 Oct 2005, 18:46

My T Sharp wrote:Probably a bit of no win for Witter. He wasn't mentally switched on because he didn't fear Lynes, and Hennessey can't put him in with a dangerous opponent because it will put his WBC#1 ranking at risk.

That being said, I think Witter has lost a bit of sharpness which was his greatest asset. Mayweather does counterpunch but he wouldn't be on the back foot as much as Lynes was and to be fair Witter has looked well away from world class in his last two fights.

Total no win situation you are right, strange as he became a contender his form went down. Hope we can see him pull out a good result against Gianluca Branco for american audiances if nothing else. He should have no excuse not to be up for that one.

P.ARMAND · Post by **P.ARMAND** » 23 Oct 2005, 17:42

ive never seen corcoran soo hungry for a fight than he was for this one. hes a very strong super featherweight and i thought he would probably make his strength tell more in the later rounds but you could see the difference straight from the opening bell, it was defently corcorans best performance to date.

Spud · Post by **Spud** » 23 Oct 2005, 18:32

Witter never dominated anything. He is a very good boxer but is good old father time catching him up?