Hart tips O’Donnell for the top
Posted: 29 Dec 2006, 12:49
Hart tips O’Donnell for the top
Highly respected boxing pundit Colin Hart, writing in his regular column in today’s Sun, has picked out Hennessy Sports promoted John O’Donnell as the fighter to watch out for in 2007
His full column follows.
HARTY INSIDE BOXING: I could make a prophet
Nostradamus, 16th Century French Prophet, foresaw most things. But even he would struggle to make accurate boxing predictions.
Particularly if he tried to forecast which young man is going to catch the eye and fire the imagination in the next 12 months.
As a bright New Year dawns on Monday, this is the moment when I give my 1960’s-model crystal ball an extra spit and polish.
Hopefully, it has given me a much clearer picture to determine with confidence who is the one to watch out for in 2007.
Unfortunately, there are few to choose from as these days in Britain talented young pros are at a premium.
Most people might think that with the numbers limited it would be easier to select a genuine prospect.
Yet attempting to name the right fighter is a precarious occupation.
Fortunately, I seem to have been a roll.
In 2005, I picked Kevin Mitchell. He went on to receive the Best Young Boxer of the Year Award and now he’s Commonwealth Super Featherweight Champion with a 22-0 unbeaten record.
At the beginning of this year, lightweight John Murray got the nod – and two months ago he lifted the Best Young Boxer of the Year trophy and has a striking 18-0 record.
Both boys are 22 and are expected to fulfil their early promise and capture major titles.
Southpaw
There appears to be just one outstanding candidate likely to be crowned Best Young Boxer of the Year in October.
Step forward southpaw John O’Donnell, 21 last month – a welterweight with dazzling hand speed and skills to match.
O’Donnell, a natural talent, was a brilliant junior amateur who boxed 26 times for England in a dozen countries, including Russia and America.
By the time he was 18 he had won gold medals at the Junior Olympics and the big Four Nations tournament, a European medal and was a two-time ABA champion.
With those exceptional credentials, he should have been one of Amir Khan’s team-mates at the Athens Olympics in 2004.
He has sparred many rounds with Khan.
Yet O’Donnell told me: “Amir is a very nice lad but I don’t regard him as anything special and, to be frank, I don’t know what all the fuss is about.”
O’Donnell could no longer stand the behaviour of some amateur officials, who he said “were doing my head in”.
So he handed in his vest and, since starting to punch for pay 20 months ago, has impressively won all of his 14 fights.
O’Donnell is one of seven children and a member of a large Irish travelling family.
Though born and raised on a tough council estate in Shepherd’s Bush, he sounds as if he has just stepped off the boat from Dun Laoghaire.
He left school when only 12 but the shy youngster said, with a twinkle in his eye, “that doesn’t mean I don’t know my way around a boxing contract.”
Talk to most men looking forward to lucrative careers and understandably they desire the benefits of the material things of life that wealth brings.
But O’Donnell doesn’t crave mansions, fast sports cars or exotic holidays abroad.
He said: “I’m ambitious to be British, European and world champion and to see my name in lights at Madison Square Garden, New York.
“But I’m a simple boy who wants a simple lifestyle. I was brought up in a house but I felt trapped there.
“I’d much prefer to live quietly in a caravan on a travellers’ site, with my wife Bridget and my son Cody, who was born last week.”
O’Donnell’s promoter Mick Hennessy is convinced O’Donnell is a diamond who long-term will shine much brighter than Khan.
Unlike Nostradamus, my clairvoyant aspirations are modest. I’ll be happy if O’Donnell provides me with a hat-trick of Best Young Boxer winners.
Colin Hart.
Highly respected boxing pundit Colin Hart, writing in his regular column in today’s Sun, has picked out Hennessy Sports promoted John O’Donnell as the fighter to watch out for in 2007
His full column follows.
HARTY INSIDE BOXING: I could make a prophet
Nostradamus, 16th Century French Prophet, foresaw most things. But even he would struggle to make accurate boxing predictions.
Particularly if he tried to forecast which young man is going to catch the eye and fire the imagination in the next 12 months.
As a bright New Year dawns on Monday, this is the moment when I give my 1960’s-model crystal ball an extra spit and polish.
Hopefully, it has given me a much clearer picture to determine with confidence who is the one to watch out for in 2007.
Unfortunately, there are few to choose from as these days in Britain talented young pros are at a premium.
Most people might think that with the numbers limited it would be easier to select a genuine prospect.
Yet attempting to name the right fighter is a precarious occupation.
Fortunately, I seem to have been a roll.
In 2005, I picked Kevin Mitchell. He went on to receive the Best Young Boxer of the Year Award and now he’s Commonwealth Super Featherweight Champion with a 22-0 unbeaten record.
At the beginning of this year, lightweight John Murray got the nod – and two months ago he lifted the Best Young Boxer of the Year trophy and has a striking 18-0 record.
Both boys are 22 and are expected to fulfil their early promise and capture major titles.
Southpaw
There appears to be just one outstanding candidate likely to be crowned Best Young Boxer of the Year in October.
Step forward southpaw John O’Donnell, 21 last month – a welterweight with dazzling hand speed and skills to match.
O’Donnell, a natural talent, was a brilliant junior amateur who boxed 26 times for England in a dozen countries, including Russia and America.
By the time he was 18 he had won gold medals at the Junior Olympics and the big Four Nations tournament, a European medal and was a two-time ABA champion.
With those exceptional credentials, he should have been one of Amir Khan’s team-mates at the Athens Olympics in 2004.
He has sparred many rounds with Khan.
Yet O’Donnell told me: “Amir is a very nice lad but I don’t regard him as anything special and, to be frank, I don’t know what all the fuss is about.”
O’Donnell could no longer stand the behaviour of some amateur officials, who he said “were doing my head in”.
So he handed in his vest and, since starting to punch for pay 20 months ago, has impressively won all of his 14 fights.
O’Donnell is one of seven children and a member of a large Irish travelling family.
Though born and raised on a tough council estate in Shepherd’s Bush, he sounds as if he has just stepped off the boat from Dun Laoghaire.
He left school when only 12 but the shy youngster said, with a twinkle in his eye, “that doesn’t mean I don’t know my way around a boxing contract.”
Talk to most men looking forward to lucrative careers and understandably they desire the benefits of the material things of life that wealth brings.
But O’Donnell doesn’t crave mansions, fast sports cars or exotic holidays abroad.
He said: “I’m ambitious to be British, European and world champion and to see my name in lights at Madison Square Garden, New York.
“But I’m a simple boy who wants a simple lifestyle. I was brought up in a house but I felt trapped there.
“I’d much prefer to live quietly in a caravan on a travellers’ site, with my wife Bridget and my son Cody, who was born last week.”
O’Donnell’s promoter Mick Hennessy is convinced O’Donnell is a diamond who long-term will shine much brighter than Khan.
Unlike Nostradamus, my clairvoyant aspirations are modest. I’ll be happy if O’Donnell provides me with a hat-trick of Best Young Boxer winners.
Colin Hart.