12.05.88 – By Mel Dixon: Boxing fans like a good underdog. They won’t pay much attention to an underdog who is not any good and who is comprehensively beaten without much in the way of resistance. Instead they’ll probably say ‘I could do better than him’. This weekend saw an example of the former. Youssef Al Hamidi is a British-based lightweight whose record consisted of four wins, eight defeats and one draw prior to his contest with unbeaten prospect John Murray on Saturday night.. The Syrian-born Al Hamidi was reportedly working in his day job when he got the call late on the morning of the fight. He made the journey from Yorkshire to Nottingham to take the bout against a fighter regarded as one of the brightest prospects in Britain and a future rival for Amir Kahn.
As he stood in the centre of the ring, Al Hamidi received the pleasure of being introduced by legendary ring announcer Jimmy Lennon Jr. Although being introduced by one of the sports great announcers as simply ‘The Spoiler from Dewsbury’ must be a bit of a letdown. Cheers from the crowd were barely audible, in fact, in the audio level stakes they were being rivalled by groans. It certainly didn’t leave me with great expectations of the fight, or the fighter. But we were all set to be pleasantly surprised…
Al Hamidi started the stronger, peppering Murray with straight lefts and rights to the head, and the occasional hook to the body. Hamidi’s lateral movement, and use of the ring left the younger man’s best work hitting the air. ‘The Spoiler’ could really fight! He utilised a fast, stinging jab and displayed an impressive range of movement and punching from the outset. He often held his hands down low relying on his reflexes to stay out of trouble. Most importantly, despite his record and late call-up, he had turned up not to survive, but to win.
It took until the third round, when Al Hamidi began slowing, for Murray to find his range. But the Syrian-born late replacement gave as good as he got in the next two stanzas, threatening to cause one of the domestic upsets of the year. Murray’s reddened face bore the evidence of Al Hamidi’s guard piercing jabs and straight rights.
From the sixth round onwards, it was Murray who began to take control. With his opponent now looking desperately tired, Murray was able to set himself and plant some trademark body punches. But the Dewsbury man was still giving it his all, flailing away with his loose limbs. In the last round Al Hamidi was clinging on, and it was all he could do to make the final bell with Murray trying to force the late stoppage.
When referee Terry O’Connor raised the hand of the Manchester fighter, the arena filled with a blanket of boos. Personally I had it as a draw, but in these fights the young prospect will always be given the benefit of the doubt. The fans may like a good outsider, but the referees and judges are not so keen on them. In a close fight, the underdog will not have his day.
He may not have won the fight, but Youssef Al Hamidi certainly won a lot of fans on a primetime boxing bill that went out live to a big audience. He looks a real credit to the journeyman fraternity, but that performance left me thinking – isn’t he too dangerous to be a journeyman? Let’s hope that his work doesn’t dry up.