John O'Donnell (boxer)

John O'Donnell (born 13 November 1985) is a London-based Irish professional boxer who is a former holder of the Commonwealth welterweight championship.

John O'Donnell
Statistics
Real nameJohn O'Donnell
Weight(s)Welterweight
NationalityIrish
Born (1985-11-13) 13 November 1985
Galway, Ireland
StanceSouthpaw
Boxing record
Total fights36
Wins33
Wins by KO11
Losses3
Draws0

Professional boxing career

Early professional career

O'Donnell, had his first professional in April 2004 with a win over journeyman Jason Nesbitt at the Penningtons Nightclub in Bradford. Over the next three years he would fight 13 more times without defeat against a series of journeymen opponents before earning the right to fight for the English title in May 2007. His opponent for the vacant English belt was fellow unbeaten prospect Stuart Elwell. The fight ended with a 10 round points victory for O'Donnell.[1][2] Following his win over Elwell, O'Donnell next travelled to Las Vegas in May 2007 to fight Mexican Christian Solano on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather's fight with Oscar De La Hoya.[3] The bout ended with disappointment for the 15-0 prospect after the fight was stopped in the 2nd round giving victory to the Mexican.[4] Such was the devastating nature of the defeat, O'Donnell took a year off from boxing and only returned in May 2008 with a win over journeyman Billy Smith. Four more victories followed in 2008 before being given the chance to fight for the Commonwealth title in 2009.[2]

Commonwealth champion

O'Donnell's shot at a first major title came on 11 April 2009. In the opposite corner, the champion Craig Watson, had himself claimed the title with a win over Namibian Ali Nuumbembe and made one defence against Matthew Hatton, the brother of Ricky. It was a step up in class for O'Donnell and he signaled his entry into the top tier of domestic boxing with victory over Watson via a split decision in what was described as a close and scintillating contest.[2][5] O'Donnell had been due to make the first defence of his newly won title on 5 September 2009 but due to problems making the weight had to settle for a non-title contest over 12 rounds against Tom Glover. The fight, shown live on ITV4, was too much of a step-up for Glover who was stopped in the 6th round with O'Donnell having taken full control.[6] O'Donnell gave up the belt after coming under pressure from the Commonwealth council after a mandatory defence scheduled for 5 March 2010 against the Ghanaian boxer Philip Kotey fell through.[7] On 7 May 2010 he stepped back into the ring to defeat Hungarian boxer Laszlo Balogh in the 5th round of an 8 round contest stating after the fight that he would like to meet Paul McCloskey in an all Irish contest for the European title.[8] On 10 September 2010 O'Donnell fought the American former Olympic bronze medal winner Terrance Cauthen in an international contest at the York Hall. Winning the fight over 12 rounds O'Donnell claimed that Cauthen was the best boxer he had ever faced and that the reason why he gave up his Commonwealth belt was "because my team did not want that belt to hold me back, so I could go onto the next level".[9]

British title challenge

On 19 February 2011 O'Donnell met former victim Craig Watson at the Wembley Arena to challenge for the vacant British title only for Watson to gain revenge by winning over 12 rounds.[10]

Professional record
32 Wins (11 knockouts, 21 decisions), 2 Losses (1 knockout, 1 decision)
Res. Record Opponent Type Rd., Time Date Location Notes
Win32-2 Erick Ochieng SD102017-03-18 York Hall, Bethnal Green, England Won vacant Commonwealth English Welterweight title.
Win31-2 Tommy Tear PTS102016-10-01 York Hall, Bethnal Green, England Won vacant Commonwealth Southern Area Welterweight title.
Win30-2 Jan Balog PTS62015-12-05 York Hall, Bethnal Green, England
Win29-2 Laszlo Fazekas PTS82015-05-02 Lavey Centre, Derry, Northern Ireland
Win28-2 Jay Morris PTS42013-07-06 York Hall, Bethnal Green, England
Win27-2 Stephen Haughian PTS82012-12-01 Odyssey Arena, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Win26-2 Thomas Mendez UD82012-10-12 Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Win25-2 Martin Welsh PTS82012-04-14 Odyssey Arena, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Loss24-2 Craig Watson UD122011-02-19 Wembley Arena, Wembley, England For vacant Commonwealth British Welterweight title.
Win24-1 Terrance Cauthen PTS122010-09-10 York Hall, Bethnal Green, England
Win23-1 Laszlo Robert Balogh TKO5 (8), 2:562010-05-07 Kingsway Leisure Centre, Widnes, England
Win22-1 Tom Glover TKO6 (12), 2:432009-09-05 Colosseum, Watford, England
Win21-1 Craig Watson SD122009-04-11 York Hall, Bethnal Green, England Won Commonwealth (British Empire) Welterweight title.
Win20-1 Suleyman Dag TKO3 (6), 1:032008-11-15 Breaffy House Resort, Castlebar, Ireland
Win19-1 Sergejs Sayrinovics RTD3 (8), 3:002008-10-04 Norwich Showground, Norwich, England
Win18-1 Sergejs Volodins TKO5 (6)2008-07-19 University Arena, Limerick, Ireland
Win17-1 Jay Morris TKO6 (6), 2:442008-06-27 York Hall, Bethnal Green, England
Win16-1 Billy Smith PTS42008-05-10 Nottingham Arena, Nottingham, England
Loss15-1 Christian Solano TKO2 (8), 1:502007-05-05 MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Win15-0 Stuart Elwell PTS102007-03-23 Nottingham Arena, Nottingham, England Won vacant BBBofC English Welterweight title.
Win14-0 Ernie Smith KO2 (8), 2:202006-12-08 Goresbrook Leisure Centre, Dagenham, England
Win13-0 Silence Saheed PTS62006-09-15 Alexandra Palace, Wood Green, England
Win12-0 Darren Gethin PTS82006-07-12 York Hall, Bethnal Green, England
Win11-0 Duncan Cottier RTD3 (8)2006-05-12 York Hall, Bethnal Green, England
Win10-0 Karl Taylor PTS42006-02-17 York Hall, Bethnal Green, England
Win9-0 Zaid Bediouri PTS62006-01-28 National Boxing Stadium, Dublin, Ireland
Win8-0 Matt Scriven TKO4 (6), 0:512006-01-20 York Hall, Bethnal Green, England
Win7-0 Ben Hudson PTS42005-10-21 York Hall, Bethnal Green, England
Win6-0 Ben Hudson TKO3 (6)2005-07-09 Nottingham Arena, Nottingham, England
Win5-0 Duncan Cottier PTS42005-04-10 Brentwood Centre, Brentwood, Essex, England
Win4-0 Ernie Smith PTS62004-11-12 Conference Centre, Wembley, England
Win3-0 Chris Long TKO4 (6), 0:442004-09-24 Nottingham Arena, Nottingham, England
Win2-0 Dave Hinds PTS42004-06-12 Nottingham Arena, Nottingham, England
Win1-0 Jason Nesbitt PTS42004-04-16 Town and Country Club, Leeds, England

References
  1. Boxrec. "John O'Donnell". Boxrec Fighter Page. Archived from the original on 8 October 2012. Retrieved 13 April 2008.
  2. Thomas Myler. "Craig Watson defeats John O'Donnell". Doghouse Boxing. Archived from the original on 6 January 2010. Retrieved 13 April 2008.
  3. Livefight | O'Donnell & Murray on Oscar undercard
  4. "Sporting Life | O'Donnell will hit back". Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  5. "BBC Sport | O'Donnell stuns Watson in a classic". Archived from the original on 12 April 2009. Retrieved 12 April 2009.
  6. Boxing Scene | O'Donnell stops and overmatched Glover
  7. Boxing News | Mark Thompson and Thomas McDonagh handed title chances Archived 16 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  8. Boxing Scene | O'Donnell stops Balogh
  9. "Hackney Gazette | Hackney fighter O'Donnell too good for Cauthen". Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 24 September 2010.
  10. Sporting Life | Watson gains revenge on O'Donnell Archived 29 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
Preceded by
Craig Watson		 Commonwealth Welterweight Champion
11 April 2009 – 16 April 2010		 Succeeded by
Denton Vassell
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