By James Slater: Tonight at The Echo Arena in his native Liverpool, British light-heavyweight king Tony “Bomber” Bellew lived up to his nickname in style as he scored an impressive one-punch KO over a game but outgunned and outclassed Danny McIntosh.
29-year-old Bellew landed a wicked right hand to the head in the 5th, scoring a KO at just 38-seconds of the round. McIntosh went down hard, landing flat on his back. Referee Terry O’Connor dispensed with a count and waved the fight off immediately. Bellew is now 17-1(11). Former European champ McIntosh, the older man by three years, is now 13-3(7).
After a relatively cagey opening round, in which both men got their jab working as well as trying to go to work with the right hand, Bellew took over completely. Bellew caught his man with a right to the head towards the end of the 1st and the two traded in exciting style. As things turned out, this was the challenger’s best round all night.
Bellew, an underrated boxer, really got his fine left jab going in the 2nd, and his powerful right hand was being fired behind it. Soon enough, a sharp right hand to the head wobbled McIntosh, sending his mouth-piece flying for the first of a number of times. Bellew went for the finish, with just seconds left in the session. A hurt and under fire challenger made it through the round..
Another hard right scored for the champion at the start of the 3rd, followed by a left to the body. Then two more big rights thudded home and it was obvious McIntosh was taking far too many punches already. Two more rights, and the challengers gum-shield was sent flying for a second time. McIntosh, from Norwich, was showing real defiance, coming forward bravely, yet he was being caught as he did do. Bellew was on fire tonight and his speed and accuracy was formidable.
“Bomber” unloaded more bombs in the 4th, and McIntosh’s shield was again sent flying. Boos rang out as a time-out was called to replace the mouth-piece, but the challenger wasn’t doing it on purpose. Bellew was soon back on the attack, going to the body in fine style. McIntosh had no answer at all and now, to make matters worse, his left eye was swelling badly. The game challenger mounted a brief attack of his own, before the champion skilfully manoeuvred his man into a corner and unloaded with a six-punch combo that sent McIntosh down. Then came the bell.
The end came quickly in the 5th. Just after an accidental clash of heads that appeared to bother Bellew, the Liverpool hero uncorked a cracking right hand to the jaw. McIntosh went down hard, his legs totally gone. The one-sided fight was over and Bellew wasted no time asking for a return with Nathan Cleverly in the post-fight interview.
Bellew keeps getting better and better and a second “world” title shot is sure to come in due course.