By Tony Pill: Danny Williams successfully defended and retained his British heavyweight title saturday night. The boxer challenging the Brixton heavyweight was Morden’s John McDermott.
The fight wasn’t the most exciting of spectacles but had slightly more action then their first meeting. Now, after sharing a ring for twenty four rounds of boxing we can at least conclude that these two certainly don’t gel..
In recent times, the sometimes unpredictable Williams, survives through fights, just doing enough to win rounds. And for the first six sessions this seemed to be the case again, with McDermott seemingly nervous and not throwing much more than his jab.
Both boxers were not doing much, except trying to push each other around and prove one another’s strength. One would throw just a single shot then fall in willingly and hold.
“Big Bad John” tried his best in the seventh to liven things up, whilst realising the fight had to be taken to Williams if he wanted any chance of snatching that British crown. He pressed the “Brixton Bomber” with some confident pressure and won his first clear round.
The Sunderland crowd seemed to wake up and take notice in the eighth. John McDermott found confidence and threw some caution to the wind, pushing Danny Williams back, letting both hands go and even at times slipped a few jabs.
Even so, it was still a messy affair, with too much holding and wrestling, making the rounds hard to score. McDermott at times, just seemed pleased with himself for manoeuvring Williams around. Quality was minimal from both and disappeared completely for the last three rounds. The referee Terry O’Connor was doing just as much work from continuously pulling them both apart!
You couldn’t help but wonder what resistance William’s has left and that if McDermott sustained a meaningful attack what could of been. He must of sensed Williams tiring and should of, or maybe been told, to take a step back and give himself some room. As we’ve seen against Pele Reid, he can put together effective combinations. But at the second time of asking, once again, the judges scored in favour of Williams by way of a split decision.
Is Danny Williams the best heavyweight in Britain? Well, yes. You can’t blame him for a non-eventful fight, he’s just beating those put in front of him, just. At 37 and some recently poor displays he should be retired, but is grateful that with the British belt still fastened around his waist, he can still earn a living.
Commonwealth champion Martin Rogan defends his crown against Sam Sexton in Belfast this month. If successful he should be in line to compete for the British number one status against Williams. Could the 12 fight novice be Britain’s next number one? If so, at 38 it wouldn’t be for long.