Two Big Macs serve up an AAA feast at Meadowbank

The two big Macs in question were Gary McMillan and Kevin McIntyre (pictured), whose bout closed Alex Arthur’s first venture into the promotional side of boxing. Amazing Alex Arthur (AAA Promotions) can be more than satisfied with the quality of fare put on in the Meadowbank Arena on Saturday evening, with the final course being a cracker of a bout between two Scottish boxers for whom there was spice in both the build up and the old East/West rivalry.

His matchmaker Grant Jeans too can feel pleased with the results of his work in terms of the matches. Opening the five bout show was Edinburgh local boy John 'Boy' McCallum (11st 7lbs 8ozs) taking a 60-54 points win over Iain Jackson (11st 13lbs 14ozs) of Brighton over 6x2 minutes, with Kenny Pringle as the third man. McCallum was certainly pumped up with adrenalin for his first outing in his home city and had a large and extremely vocal fan base in support. This adrenalin only served him to try too hard to please, and he’d be better to capitalise on his undoubted ability with less of it coursing through his veins. He was occasionally caught with unnecessary shots from the Brighton man who was not here for fun, and although Jackson had a small nick above his right eye in round 3, Dr Duff of the BBBoC ruled him okay to continue.

McCallum did earn a stern word from Kenny Pringle in round 4, but I suspect the weight of expectation from his fans is heavier than the youngster understands or needs to carry. In the end though he has another victory on his slate, and can be described as a raw, aggressive novice who will be smoother and more effective as the experience racks up. He has all the tools and fans to make that transition.

Next up, as the bouts turned round quickly, was another capital based boxer Jason Hastie (10st 4lbs 12 ozs) in with perennial show saver Johnny Greaves (10st 9lbs 4ozs) from London. 'Greavsie' pulled the match out of the fire with only 30 minutes to spare in this 4x3 minutes bout which had star referee Victor Loughlin in control of the action. Hastie had been scheduled to match up with Rotherham’s Jon Baguley, which in all honesty I’d have liked to see, as Baguley is always value for money. However, that takes nothing away from Greaves who’s helped out.

Hastie has all the moves and angles without the benefit of a heavy hand, and Greavsie (having worked this out for himself) indulged in a bit of Edinburgh 'Fringe Festival' antics with his devil-may-care attitude. This was never going to finish early, with Greavsie trying to win friends during the festival (but the Perrier award for comedy had already been earmarked), and Hastie being light of fist. It was though enjoyable for the punters and the inevitable result of a shut-out 40-36 for the local man was spot on. Even if Greavsie was in danger of trying Victor Loughlin’s patience with his antics.

Kenny Anderson (12st 5lbs) is a bit of a character in Edinburgh and has his legion of fans anticipating fireworks when he took on Lee 'The Liquorice Allsort' Duncan (12st 4lbs) from Sheffield. Who in the world thinks up these nicknames?

In any event, name apart, Duncan is a typical Wincobank fighter from the Ingle production line. He’s elusive, light on his feet and harder to nail than jelly to the ceiling. Anderson was trying to cut off his Duncan’s avenues, and at the same time becoming somewhat frustrated by the 'Will-o’-the-Wisp' opponent.

As a route back to his targets of Groves and Degale, Kenny could hardly have had a more awkward opponent, as it is difficult to look good when your opponent is as slippery as a bag of eels. In round 4 though, his perseverance paid dividends as Duncan failed to heed his corner -  imploring to keep on the move for either reasons of tiredness or naivety. Either way it didn't matter as Anderson nailed his unprotected chin with an absolute hammer blow after only 46 seconds, which rendered a count as superfluous and the Yorkshireman in need of oxygen. Cue unconfined joy amongst the local fans as their man has shown he can deal with slippery opponents as effectively as he can the more direct versions.

The top of the bill is, naturally, the promoter Alex Arthur weighing 10st 1lb with Georgian Aleksander Vakhtangashvili coming in at 9st 9lbs. Victor Loughlin oversaw the action in a scheduled ten threes.

Vakhtangashvili is no respecter of reputations, but should be as it is obvious that AAA still has all his inherent ability even if he’s longer in the tooth than his prime. The two protagonists looked as though they were in different weight categories, as from my perspective, Arthur looked about a stone heavier than his painfully slim Georgian opponent, and his greater punching power was blatantly effective.

By round three, the game but limited Vakhtangashvili was bleeding and looking shop worn when he took a standing count at the end of the round. If the writing was on the wall, then Vakhtangashvili was going down all guns blazing. The Georgian took two more standing counts before Victor Loughlin rescued him before at 1 minute 46 seconds of the 4th. There was no real protest from either Vakhtangashvili or his corner, since it was obvious he was going to be on the wrong end of a hammering had it continued. Good call then from Scotland’s star referee, as you’d expect.

The final bout was not the top of the bill per se, however, there was never any doubt that this bout had been spiced up by the assertion that Kevin McIntyre (10st 9lbs 4ozs) had 'bottled it' from Gary McMillan (10st 9lbs 10ozs) on three previous occasions when they could have met.

This bout was the one to watch here in the Meadowbank Arena as the lack of 'bonhomie' between them was as obvious as night following day in the calendar. No need then for preliminaries, as both southpaws set about the business with malice aforethought.

The opening round seemed to signify victory as an inevitability for Edinburgh man McMillan, as he floored McIntyre with two separate lefts to the short rib which left the West coaster gasping for breath and facing two standing counts against him before the bell to end the opening round. McMillan and McIntyre both are capable of hurting the other, and both are painfully accurate with their jabs. It has to be said though that McMillan was dominating in the earlier rounds.

Paisley postman McIntyre though has heart in abundance, and rode out the storm where lesser boxers would have capitulated. McMillan always moves in an almost puppet-like fashion, with jerky movement all over except for his fists, which flow smoothly. The postie may not send his deliveries by air mail, but they are definitely first class -  his employers the Royal Mail would do well to emulate him.

In truth, I hadn’t expected this to go past the half way stage, especially with the early dominance of McMillan, but McIntyre was set to prove me wrong and the bout is turned on it’s head with McMillan’s stamina draining and McIntyre getting a new sense of purpose from the 4th round onwards. The bout turned out to be the epitome of the expression 'a fight of two halves' and referee Kenny Pringle has the unenviable task of settling the outcome. By the tenth, McMillan was exhausted but still trying to muster attacks to snatch it, whereas McIntyre looked composed and in control.

Kenny Pringle's score of 95-94 to McIntyre was a fair assessment of a bout that either could have been given. No-one could really argue that it was that close. Engrossing throughout, and with an electric start from the Edinburgh man, you could have been forgiven for assuming it was going to be his night were it not for the grit and determination of the Paisley postman.

All in all, AAA promotions will be more than satisfied with the first foray into the promotional minefield.