British, Commonwealth and European Bantamweight Titles: Jamie McDonnell UR12 Stuart Hall
This was the first main event of the new season and it provided every bit the spectacle that was needed. This was being called a pick 'em by all the pundits amongst much discussion of whether Hall's power would win out or if McDonnell's work-rate and movement would be too much for the older man.
Given that the two men are roughly the same height and weight they cut very different figures in the ring. Hall has a compact appearance with elbows tucked in and chin down as he steadily edged forward early on. McDonnell on the other hand looks rangy, slimmer and angular as he moved around constantly, both with feet and head, staying largely on the back foot. For those first few rounds there was nothing to split the boxers. McDonnell was landing better combinations and more punches, but the heavier-looking shots came from Hall.
In the fourth McDonnell started to land to the body with some quality punches and it was notable that Hall tucked his elbows in more to protect his ribs. The shots seemed to have an effect as Hall started to look slower with both punch and movement. From here the fight steadily moved in McDonnell's favour as the stream of punches took their toll. McDonnell was moving as well as at the beginning of the fight and Hall was left punching thin air far too often.
Towards the end of the fight Hall found a second wind and tried to take the fight to McDonnell, but was unable to make any real impact. Whenever he landed he'd face three or four punches coming back at him and was unable to get the better of any exchange. In the last minute Hall put together flowing strings of punches that underlined a difference in class between the two boxers. Hall is game and can walk take a lot of punishment but McDonnell just had the look of someone who has higher gears to go through. He may need to add power to compete at the highest level, but everything else seems in place.
A disappointing opening fight to the new Sky boxing season. Tony Jeffries was making something of a comeback having stepped down a weight but was matched against a tricky southpaw who had come to survive. It says a lot about the quality of the fight that watching it on the replay I missed half the fight as they skipped rounds 3, 4, 6 and 7. What I saw was enough to know that Jeffries isn't about to challenge at a decent level any time soon.
Jeffries was comfortably the better fighter with Morby hardly throwing any punches, let alone landing any, but he was able to spoil fairly easily. Though Jeffries landed a few decent shots they didn't appear to hurt Morby. The only time Jeffries was troubled was when a clash of heads opened up a cut over his right eye. It has been this problem that has kept him to only one round in the previous 14 months, and it seems another spell on the sidelines awaits, though based on this fight we're not missing much.
In the post-fight interview there seemed to be bickering between the fighter, his trainer and Frank Malony. Jeffries was complaining about being switched to a southpaw opponent on a week's notice, his trainer was telling him to listen to instructions, and Malony was criticising him for fighting the same way all fight. A intriguing end to a highly disappointing outing.
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