It was quite a night of heavyweight boxing last night in the UK. The Dillian Whyte-Joseph Parker and Dereck Chisora-Carlos Takam slugfests in London absolutely delighted millions of fight fans, while over in Aberdeen a quite bizarre heavyweight clash took place. Former Commonwealth lightweight champion Lee McAllister faced former world heavyweight title challenger and Mike Tyson conqueror Danny Williams in a bout that contested the WBU heavyweight strap.
Amazingly, despite giving away around 60 pounds in weight, 35 year old McAllister upset the odds and won last night’s bout. According to a BBC Sport report, McAllister dropped Williams three times during the first five-rounds and the 45 year old heavyweight was pulled out after the tenth-round when his corner stopped the fight. Williams, who has been a pretty much shot fighter for years, has now retired for good.
The win scored by McAllister made a little bit of boxing history, as the 35 year old became the first-ever lightweight to win a version of the heavyweight title. It’s unclear what the new WBU champ will do next; whether he will take more fights at heavyweight or whether the Williams gamble – one that actually paid off – was very much a one-off.
Credit must be given to the Scot, who was referred to as “crazy” for taking on such a bigger, heavier and presumably stronger man. Williams’ punch-resistance, questionable since back in 2010 or thereabouts, must be almost non-existent now. Again, this is to take nothing away from McAllister’s big win.
Williams, a former British and Commonwealth champion who once defeated good men such as Mark Potter (famously overcoming a dislocated shoulder to KO Potter), Michael Sprott, Mike Tyson, Audley Harrison and John McDermott and also challenged Vitali Klitschko for the world title, exits with a record of 52-27(39). It is to be hoped “The Brixton Bomber” actually does the right thing and makes his retirement stick. It has been long overdue.
McAllister is now 40-3(10).
All in all a pretty odd fight.