BoxRec

Has the Irish hard man Eamonn Magee who turned 32 in July blown opportunity to break into the world scene? In his fights with Ricky Hatton and Oktay Urkal you could see he had the ability to beat them, but the victories just didn’t come. The bad tempered Irishman has come a long way though since fighting on the tough streets of Ardoyne, Belfast.

Unlike many other British fighters Eamonn is not afraid to travel away from his own backyard to fight, and after only six professional bouts Magee crossed the pond to America. In 1997, Boston, Massachusetts, Magee got to do some sparring with ‘Irish’ Micky Ward, this would have given him tremendous experience. Even though it was very early in Eamonn's career and Ward was nearer the peak of his, it was said to have been very competitive. He fought twice in America, first against Anthony Townsend who he stopped in round one. His second fight was with the very respectable Jamaican, Teddy Reid. It was a close fight but Eamonn got handed his first loss, a split decision but Magee proved he's not afraid to fight anyone at anytime, a true fighter.

In 2002 he fought the WBU champion Ricky Hatton, I thought this was a real 50:50. Steve Holdsworth was even favouring Magee "If I had to put my last punt on it I would probably go for Magee either by very late stoppage (cuts) or on points." Magee started so well, dropping Hatton in the first and seriously hurting him in the second but it just went downhill from there. Ricky didn’t do anything spectacular to beat Magee, due to Eamonn’s poor tactics Ricky just edged the rounds out. The fight was there for Eamonn to take, he just blew it. I wonder if it’s his life style outside the ring that puts restraints on him inside the ring. His latest opportunity came in the form of a European light-welterweight title shot against Oktay Urkal. He travelled to Germany to fight the champion in his back yard. Eamonn knew a judges decision would be near impossible, but that didn’t deter him. Another fight where he lost a close decision after having floored his opponent. Another fight where he came so close, yet is still so far from reaching his true potential.

Magee’s last chance to make waves in the light welterweight division might come in the form of Ricky Hatton’s big rival Junior Witter. A fight which Witter has already priced himself out of in the past doesn’t look like being made anytime soon. Witter is targeting Zab Judah’s WBO light-welterweight crown as he’s the number one contender, rather than defending his British title against mandatory challenger Eamonn Magee. The ‘Terminator’ is now expected to fight for the vacant title. A ray of light for Eamonn is that the Witter team have said 'they would endeavour to make sure Magee got the first shot at Witter if he lands the WBO belt.’ but what are the chances of that happening? For all Magee’s gameness and effort he’s on the outside looking in, so in the final stages of Magee's career what can he realistically expect to achieve?

No, Magee's not blown it at all... he's just shown against Hatton and Urkal that he's not good enough to be anything more than a tough contender.

Yes, at 32 he's too old to show anything different...IMHO

i think the only fight out there at the moment for Magee is Witter,

i feel Magee would beat Witter, Magee has a hard style to fight against and if he catches witter he may well stop him, but his age and others factors may stop this,

if magee beats witter he may get the other fights he wants against hatton
but dont bet on it,

mc back to his fav colours

chris

One outside idea for Magee is to sign a short term contract with a US promoter and get his asre over there to call out guys like Micky Ward (if he were to un-retire), Gatti maybe even a few other top 10 guys.

They love the whole Irish thing over there and Eamon could capitilise on it for a fight or two. Could say he wants revenge over Gatti for the Irish or something. Sounds silly but I reckon it would put bums on seats.

You could pay Micky Ward 10 million dollars and he still wouldn't lace up the gloves again. He's adamant about his retirement.
Although I agree Magee - Ward would be a cracking dust up...both as hard as nails, teak tough, can take huge bombs to the chin and have bucketloads of pride and passion.

get in the ring wrote:You could pay Micky Ward 10 million dollars and he still wouldn't lace up the gloves again. He's adamant about his retirement.
Although I agree Magee - Ward would be a cracking dust up...both as hard as nails, teak tough, can take huge bombs to the chin and have bucketloads of pride and passion.

Then maybe Magee can fill that need that the US must have for an Irish Light-Welterweight! Maybe he could even get Ward's endorsement. I'm just thinking of the $$$$.

I agree that Magee is now stuck in a division that offers few opportunities - and at 32, he needs all opportunities he can get. Just a thought. Why not a move back up to welter! He boxed there as an amateur in the 1990 world cup in Dublin (losing a good fight to Robert McCracken) and if he brings his power up to welter could be a real force.
A fight with Neil Sinclair would be a natural.

bennie wrote:I agree that Magee is now stuck in a division that offers few opportunities - and at 32, he needs all opportunities he can get. Just a thought. Why not a move back up to welter! He boxed there as an amateur in the 1990 world cup in Dublin (losing a good fight to Robert McCracken) and if he brings his power up to welter could be a real force.
A fight with Neil Sinclair would be a natural.

What a brilliant suggestion.

sinclair magee

they both have the same trainer and spar all the time together, would that still be a great fight?

REAL_DEAL wrote:sinclair magee

they both have the same trainer and spar all the time together, would that still be a great fight?

I think it would. Magee is someone who will always come to knock the other guy out, friend or otherwise. And he would definitely have a puncher's chance. Sinclair can bang himself of course, but there's no doubt who has the better chin in my opinion: the southpaw.
Welterweight is a division full of opportunities. Jawaid Khaliq is a good fighter, but can be hit and hurt. James Hare is a real boxing talent, but is not a big welter and lacks KO power. Eamonn has nothing to fear from Sinclair, Khaliq and Hare. He's already fought a man who is currently a world class welterweight, Teddy Reid - and has been in with other world class fighters. Oktay Urkal is ranked in the top five by the WBA, WBC and the IBF for example and Ricky Hatton is number three in the WBC rankings.
This would all hold Eamonn in good stead for a move up in my opinion.

Magee was treated badly in Germany against Urkal, Urkal's behaviour was unprofessional to say the least although it added some spice to proceedings. Magee is solid enough to take Witter, it would be a fun fight if it happened, Witter should get real and accept the matchup. As if Judah or the American public is going to be interested in a rematch? Witter already clocked up a mini marathon in the first fight who wants to see him jog round a ring again for 12 rounds? Not me.

Magee LOST the fight with Hatton, it was there for him to win. Sky and myself scored it to Hatton by 1. So surely he could have faught instead of lay there for one round.

However, unfortunately he was beaten by Urkal in my opinion, perhaps a rematch in Ireland with support might give Magee that extra step he needs - cause that was the difference between the two.

However, I can't fault his effort in that fight, which shows that in my opinion his world ranking of 14 prior to the Hatton fight was about correct.

I still think he could fight Witter, he's still a good yardstick and has shown he belongs in fringe world class with the closeness of these defeats. Hatton for me confirmed World class status with his impressive showing against Phillips (who took world ranked possibly 2 Shamba Mitchell to a majority decision which could have gone either way).

Urkal showed he was world class with his record and his showing against Tszyu.

Witter still needs to go back to Bergman, who's quality no doubt - would he have beaten Phillips or Urkal I'm not sure. I actually admired his showing against the then "invincible" Judah, but it was a survival job and it did answer any questions as to whether Witter is world class.

So hopefully Magee vs Witter is possible the last opportunity to get in the mix. Especially if the WBO is on the line. Imagine if Hatton is all set to challenge Witter then in his warm up fight he suffers a major cut, perhaps Magee would step in.