Victorious McAllister shares the limelight with his brother (and friends)
Lee McAllister easily overcame his late replacement opponent on the top of the bill clash in the Beach Ballroom in Aberdeen last night with a third round stoppage on which his European title shot aspirations perhaps hinged. The usual ear-splitting welcome all his bouts receive from a partisan home crowd was even surpassed, as his younger brother Matthew McAllister and Granite City club mate Darren Traynor both made their professional debuts on the undercard, and ally that to the popularity of Inverness' heavyweight Gary Cornish returning to Aberdeen, and you have the ingredients of a raucous night of pugilism.
There wasn't a spare seat to be had in the venerable venue. Reigning Commonwealth light-welterweight champion Lee McAllister (10st 1lb 14ozs) met with Karoly Lakatos (10st 4ozs) of Debrecen in Hungary over eight-three's minutes ticking over contest. McAllister took immediate control of the centre of the ring and pursued his man relentlessly from the opening bell. The Hungarian's left eye was looking shop worn from the attention it was getting from the 'Aberdeen Assassin's' very accurate right hooks and left crosses glancing past his face as early as the first round.
McAllister stalked him like a cat with a mouse, while cutting off the escape routes Lakatos was trying vainly to slip through. The second round saw Lakatos' head snapped back with an uppercut which he'd obviously forgotten about while trying to dodge the straight lefts and right hooks. The writing was on the wall for the smiling Hungarian, though for the life of me I couldn't understand what he had to smile about as he was on the receiving end of some pain.
Having said that Lakatos seemed to be smiling the whole time I saw him at the weigh-in and throughout his time in Aberdeen, so maybe he is just a happy guy. The Hungarian just didn't have much to offer the Aberdonian in terms of offense and this prompted McAllister to open up in the third round and two successive standing counts meant the end was nigh! The third count signalled enough for referee Kenny Pringle, with only the ropes holding Lakatos up and he called a halt to it with 2 minutes 1 second gone in the third. No protest from the Hungarian contingent as I suspect they'd realised he was out of his depth early on in the bout. It remains to be seen whether this represented a bonus or otherwise in the European shake up, as Tommy Gilmour can be persuasive and depending on results elsewhere, he could perhaps engineer a European title bout in the Aberdeen Exhibition Centre for Lee McAllister. I hope so as it would be a massive shot in the arm of boxing up here.
Lee's younger brother Matthew McAllister opened proceedings at 10st 11lbs 2 ozs on his debut against Tamworth-based Scot Matt Seawright at 10st 12lbs, and after a tentative start put the grizzled Seawright down for a standing count in the opener with a cracking left hook. This immediately had Seawright in reverse gear with ducking and holding on for dear life. McAllister could have used the jab a bit more as a range-finder but it was his debut after all and he was always in command.
On the rare occasions Seawright did do anything resembling an attack, they were agricultural like and if truth be told, the Tamworth man was in survival mode throughout as the youngster went through his repertoire. I've referee'd Matthew on more than a few occasions as an amateur and suspect he will be a good addition to the professional ranks. On this showing he has all the tools needed to emulate his older brother. The result never in any doubt then as he trotted out a 60-53 points win against a professional intent on survival mode.
Another product of the Granite City Boxing club is Darren Traynor, and his promise within the amateurs never got the recognition at GB level it deserved, so it is no surprise to see him debut as a paid boxer. Traynor (9st 5lbs 2ozs), boxed another debutant in Marvin Campbell of Stoke (9st 8lbs 6ozs) as the third bout of the night. Campbell is no journeyman picking up a cheque, and to make his debut in the Lions Den that is the Beach Ballroom takes some cojones. He may regret that decision now as he's faced with a 28 day lay-off, having been on the receiving end of an RSC in the fourth round of the scheduled six-two's.
Neither of the debutants bothered with preliminaries and set to work at pace as you'd expect on your first professional outing. Traynor though did show composure in buckets and a range of shots which demonstrate his innate ability. Both boxers were giving their all, but Traynor definitely had the upper hand and Campbell was down several times (which Kenny Pringle ruled as slips) before Traynor upped the ante and his combinations, to have it called off after 25 seconds of the round four by referee Pringle. Similarly no protest from the men from the Potteries as I supect they knew they'd bitten off more than they could chew with Traynor on Campbell's debut. That said, fair play to the Englishman for taking up the challenge.
Gary Cornish weighing 16st 12lbs 1oz of Inverness, is as popular in Aberdeen as he is at home in the Highland capital. His match against the walking art gallery that was tattooed Lithuanian, Rolandas Cesna (14st 8lbs 6ozs) was one-way traffic and will have cemented the rapport he has with the Aberdeen fight fans. I'm astonished that the shorter, lighter man was still standing at the end of the bout as he shipped more punishment than politicians with dodgy expense claims.
Cornish is heavy handed, fast and exciting to watch, so it was with incredulity on my part that this wasn't an early finish for him. You have to hand it to the rugged Cesna, his sponge like ability for soaking up punishment when bigger men would have capitulated is to his credit. He even showed some misplaced bravado in the last round by gesturing Cornish into him only to have to cover up with speed as the gesture worked. From ringside where I was seated the force of the punches was not for the faint hearted and I venture to suggest that Rolandas' head will need some Nurofen in the morning and his ribcage will be the worse for wear for its attention from the 6ft 7in Invernesian.
A thoroughly good night of boxing left the fans pouring out into the city happy with the results and having had their money's worth.
