Duran Outlasts McNeil, Retains Commonwealth

At London’s Park Lane Hilton tonight, Ossie Duran looked to be walking his way to victory over the inexperienced Scotsman Colin McNeil but by round seven the warrior from Ghana was almost out of steam, but Duran managed to pull the victory from grasp of his southpaw opponent by margins of 118-110, 119-109 and 119-109 to take a unanimous decision and retain the Commonwealth Light Middleweight title. Sports Network promoted the charity show to benefit the fight against the disease EB.

The main co-feature it was a scrappy affair as challenger Sammy Smith came in all head and elbows, causing a cut under British Southern Area Welterweight titlist Ross Minter’s eye. No matter, Minter dropped Smith with a full blooded right hand in the second and while the challenger recovered, the end came in the third when the champion unloaded a hefty barrage of punches on Smith, causing the bout to be stopped.

In other action, Manchester’s super feather Andy Morris stopped opponent Micky Coveney in four rounds while Morris’ flashy London counterpart Kevin Mitchell hammered Wladimir Borov within two rounds.