British Scene: O'Donnell Ends Glover's Upset Streak

Matt Chudley recaps Saturday's welterweight match-up between John O'Donnell and Tom Glover.

Photos © Justin McKie

Thoroughly out of his depth, Tom Glover was halted in the 6th round after taking heavy punishment from John O'Donnell and offering little in return this past Saturday at the Watford Coliseum.

Although scheduled as O'Donnell’s first defence of the Commonwealth title he claimed from Craig Watson, the belt was not at stake as the Commonwealth Boxing Council failed to rubber stamp the contest. Without the necessary formalities completed the fights still went ahead as a 12 rounder although a 1lb concession was made on the welterweight limit.

Giving up 5 inches in height and conceding significant speed and reach advantages it was clear that Glover was really up against it this time, but in his customary style, the plucky brick layer from Essex gamely tried to work his way inside. The man from West London was too sharp however, and took full advantage of his size and speed advantage, consistently employing the jab that had gone missing last time out against Craig Watson.

After a relatively patient first round O'Donnell began to find his range in the second, catching Glover with flashy combos and showing off his impressive hand-speed. Glover did have his moments in the opening rounds, connecting with a few right hands but with no stoppages to his credit and very limited power he failed to really gain O'Donnell’s respect.

It soon became an impossible task for Glover after his nose was broken during the second round. A sharp left uppercut from the Irish born southpaw that split the gloves seemed to do the damage. Reliant upon his stamina and gritty determination, Glover was no longer able to breathe through his nose and plodded forward with his mouth hanging open.

The blood began to flow steadily in the 3rd after O'Donnell targeted the broken nose with a onslaught of straight lefts and also began to set his feet more and put more into his punches.

O'Donnell seemed to take a breather in the 4th, possibly in an attempt to ensure he didn't punch himself out given Glover's durability and record of never having been stopped. Now masked in blood, the body shots and right hooks where still there for Glover but the more hurtful attacks where still coming from the Londoner.

The 5th and 6th rounds saw the fight continue to follow a predictable path, with Glover at the mercy of O'Donnell's speedy offense and not seeming able to worry O'Donnell in return. With Glover becoming more disorganised and his hands gradually coming down, Richie Davies took a strong interest in the 6th round, and compasionately called it off after a barrage of unanswered punches left Glover reeling on the ropes.

With the win, his 10th inside the distance, O’Donnell moves to 22-1 and will next face mandatory challenger Philip Kotey from Ghana, likely in December. Having sustained the broken nose, Glover's English title challenger planned for next month seems unlikely and he also expressed a desire to move down to light-welterweight.

On the under-card…

The main support saw Lee Purdy get revenge over Peter McDonagh following a decision loss back at the end of last year. While a reasonably entertaining fight it didn't quite reach the same heights as their previous encounter and a better versed Purdy proved too strong at welterweight, winning by a score of 98-94 on referee Jeff Hinds' card. McDonagh plans to head back down to his natural confines of 135-140.

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The Boxing Bulletin Pick'em Game - Week 1

The Boxing Bulletin's Pick'em game has arrived.

Our game is a little different than most of the variations we've seen online, as it's a combination of picking the winners straight-up and beating the odds. If you're ready to match your prognostication skills against other boxing fans, then let's get started...

How to play:

The game is strictly for fun, and entry is free. The deadline to enter this week is Thursday night at 11 PM EST. We'll post the pick breakdown on Friday, and have the results tabulated and online by Sunday night.

Pick The Winners

This part's easy - 2 points for each correct answer.

Beat The Odds

This is where it gets a little more involved. You will have the option of choosing 1 fight to risk double points, and 1 fight to risk triple points. Points gained (and lost) will be multiplied by two and three times respectively for these fights.

You do not need to risk points on every fight. If you wish to skip a fight, just check "pass" for both fighters.

Standings

We will keep standings for the full year, although each game will only last for 1 month. At the end of the month standings will be reset and a new game will begin.

We've got a few details below on the fights in play this week, but if you're ready to get started, here's the Week 1 game sheet.

This Week's Line-up - clicking on the fighter's name will open up their boxrec page September 4 John Simpson vs Paul Truscott - Commonwealth featherweight title - Middlesbrough, Yorkshire, United Kingdom (Television: Sky, UK) These two featherweights fought back in January, with Simpson coming away with an 8th round "stoppage" win. It went in the books as a TKO, but it was an accidental clash of heads that lead to the bout being called (the correct ruling under British rules). Simpson was coming on strong at the time, and enters Friday's rematch as the favorite. Jose Lopez vs Marvin Sonsona - WBO super-flyweight title - Rama, Ontario, Canada (Television, TSN, Canada) This will be a huge jump in class for the 19 year old Sonsona who's fought a grand total of 38 professional rounds. Is he ready for it? Here's the Filipino phenom's one punch knock-out win over Wandee Singwnacha this past May. The 37 year old Lopez is 15-0-1 since dropping a 12 round decision to Fernando Montiel back in 2001. September 5 John O'Donnell (21-1-0) vs Tom Glover (9-5-3) - 12 rounds - Commonwealth welterweight title & Lee Purdy (11-1) vs Peter McDonagh (14-14) - 10 rounds - Watford, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom (Television: ITV4, UK) O'Donnell enters the main event as a big favorite, but Glover has put together an unlikely string of upsets, including a win over former European lightweight champion Jon Thaxton last time out. Purdy's only defeat as a pro... a 10 round points loss to McDonagh last December. Luis Concepcion vs Omar Solado (12 rounds) - interim WBA flyweight title - Panama City, Panama Solado was stopped last year in a WBC eliminator by Julio Cesar Miranda. After a couple of wins, he's getting another crack at a strap but will have to travel to Concepcion's hometown for the opportunity. Concepcion's lone defeat game in his 4th pro fight and since then has rolled off 18 straight victories. Here's the video from his latest fight (it's a short one): click For a short previews of Simpson vs Truscott and O'Donnell vs Glover, check out Part 1 of our UK Season preview by Dave Oakes.

If you're ready to play, click here for the week 1 game sheet.
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