Boxing In The British Isles: Lee, McCloskey Win In Limerick, Matthews Victorious In Liverpool

ByRicky Jones

There were two shows of note last night, at University Arena in Limerick, Ireland and one Merseyside at the Olympia in Liverpool, England.

At Limerick, local hero Andy Lee, 16-1 (13), returned home after a disastrous first loss, to Brian Vera in America last March, and regained his form by dramatically stopping Philadelphia boxer Willie “The Gladiator” Gibbs, 20-4 (16), at the end of the tenth and final round of their bout.

Lee put his height advantage and southpaw stance to good use, keeping the American at arm’s length for most of the night and rattling off crisp combinations that generally found their mark.

The veteran Gibbs tried to make up what was clearly becoming a ever widening points gap by winging big shots but his faulty defense led to a near knockout loss in the middle rounds as he was battered pillar to post by the Irishman.

Gibbs survived the ordeal and simply couldn’t get to Lee until the last round when he connected with over rights that had the Limerick lad in deep water. A referee telling off of Gibbs for use of the head gave Lee time to clear the cobwebs and he was soon hammering Gibbs to the canvas.

“The Gladiator” survived the first assault but couldn’t deal with the follow-up barrage and the action was called at 2:46 of the 12th and final round.

Light welterweight Paul McCloskey, 17-0 (7), had his coming out party against Englishman Nigel Wright, 18-4-1 (9), in a good all-southpaw battle that saw the Dungiven Irishman pull out a 97-93 victory after ten contentious rounds of close combat.

Northern Ireland welter Stephen Haughian, 15-1 (6), won his third straight by outpointing Italian import Giuseppe Langella, 12-4-1 (4), 78-73 after eight frames.

Former Irish Light Heavy Champ Jason McKay, 20-2 (6), was also on the bill and put Poland’s Marcin Piatkowski out in the third of a six rounder, while London based southpaw welter John O’Donnell, 18-1 (7), stayed busy with a sixth round stoppage of Latvian novice Sergey Volodin, 2-4 (1).

At the Olympia in Liverpool, favorite son Derry Matthews, 21-1 (11), returned to the winner’s circle in his first bout back after getting knocked out and losing the WBU Featherweight title to Oldham based Mongolian spoiler Choi Tseveenpurev in April.

24 year old Matthews was taken the distance by Kenya’s previously unbeaten John Gicharu, 9-1-1 (4), but posted a 80-71 points victory in an eight rounder.