Boxing Result: Brian Magee Wins European Title In Denmark

Irish southpaw Brian Magee scored the biggest victory of his career last night at the NRGi Arena in Aarhus, Denmark by stopping Mads Larsen in a clash for the vacant European super middleweight title.

For Magee, 33-3-1 (23), the victory comes at the culmination of a mercurial ten year ride through the professional ranks and is particularly sweet given the Belfast man’s controversial split decision loss to Vitali Tsypko for the same title in 2005.

After suffering a stoppage loss to current WBC champ Carl Froch for the British and Commonwealth crowns in 2006, Magee had achieved a 7-0-1 mark going into last night’s bout, drawing with Tony Oakey for the British light heavyweight strap in 2007 before dropping back down to super middle to win the British belt against Stevie Maguire a year later.

Denmark’s Larsen, 51-3 (38), also a southpaw, had unsuccessfully challenged Sven Ottke for the IBF trophy in 2003 but recovered to win the European title later that year before promptly retiring until 2007.

Larsen rode a seven bout win streak, including victories over Hector Javier Velazco and Nadar Hamdan, into the contest with Magee but the Irishman brought a halt to the parade.

The Dane initially managed to keep Magee at the end of the jab, picking off the younger man as he sought to find a way inside.

But Magee managed to do just that during the middle rounds, forcing Larsen to trade at close quarters and discovering that the 36 year old Berlin resident could no longer absorb punishment to the midsection.

Magee’s body attack took its toll as Larsen was downed in the fifth before hitting the canvas twice more in the sixth frame. Larsen couldn’t keep his antagonist off and was dropped again at 0:15 of the seventh, causing referee Erikki Meronen to stop the action.

On the undercard, Lolenga Mock, 29-12-1 (12), won a majority decision against Giovanni De Carolis, 11-3 (3), to recapture the vacant European Union super middle title.

Ex- European king Christian Bladt, 34-10-2 (10), was held to a draw over eight frames by Italian champ Giuseppe Langella, 17-5-2 (5), at welterweight, as was former European challenger Martin Kristjansen, 21-2-4 (7), who tangled with Felix Lora, 11-6-4 (6).