Andrew Walker – On the 11th of September (venue undecided as of now but looking like Brentwood in Essex) British heavyweight prospect Tyson Fury will face his toughest opponent to date (on paper at least) in his short professional career so far, for the English heavyweight title. The man in the opposite corner looking to end the Fury phenomenom will be John McDermott, who is coming off of two back to back British title decision losses to Danny Williams.
Arguably McDermott was unlucky to lose the first fight against Williams after Danny was docked several points late in the fight for various infringements. McDermott had Williams out on his feet in round five but just couldn’t find the necessary punch to finish the Londoner off. But when the bell rang to end the fight it was McDermott and his camp celebrating as they thought they had the British heavyweight title in the bag. Danny Williams looked despondent and had the expression of a man who knew he had lost his belt.
Amazingly Williams was given the majority decision (I had scored the fight a draw) but in hindsight take the fifth round and the point deductions away and Williams out boxed the big Essex man comfortably throughout the fight.. Arguably perhaps Williams was due some “luck” from the officials after the previous events in Spain but even so he did look shocked and the McDermott camp looked furious as they felt they had been on the wrong end of a robbery.
McDermott was granted a rematch but in-between that fight happening Danny Williams was surprisingly TKO’d by the British based Polish fighter Albert Sosnowski, in the eighth round of a meaningless ten round fight. McDermott and his camp must have thought that Williams was now there for the taking especially as (in their eyes) big John had run him close in the first encounter.
In the rematch though Williams again out boxed McDermott but this time Danny never gave away any silly points. McDermott, like in the previous outing did not seem to want to be there and his corner had to keep persuading him to come out and fight. Doing little more than pawing out a jab and holding, McDermott was clearly out pointed on my scorecard but the judges scored it: John Keane 116-111, Victor Loughlin 116-111, and Richard James Davies 113-115 to give Williams the victory by majority decision. How Davies could have come up with that ridiculous verdict I will never know.
McDermott has not fought since that night’s loss and personally I don’t see him offering Tyson Fury much opposition come their fight night next month either. The problem with McDermott is that he has no self belief and he is in a terrible state fitness wise. I’m not one of those boxing writers who think boxers should all look like Mr Universe, as being muscle bound does not translate to being a good boxer. In fact it will hinder your movement in some cases. But I do believe that a fighter should have the respect to show up in shape and not snacking on a “Mc Burger” as he steps onto the scales to weigh in. A brief perusal of any boxing forum will leave you in know doubt as to what the fans think of John “Big Bad John” McDermott’s fitness.
McDermott looked in terrible shape for both of his previous fights and they were for the British heavyweight title. If he can’t get himself motivated enough to train properly for that, what makes anyone think he will get into a decent shape to face Tyson Fury? It’s not like McDermott has one punch knockout power or a relentless work rate either to fall back on. I saw little boxing ability by McDermott to impress me enough to believe he will offer Tyson Fury anything more than his chin or a hug when they meet for McDermott’s English title next month. I hope to be proved wrong as although I ‘am a believer in Tyson Fury, McDermott is a local lad to me and I would like to see him do himself some justice and show up for a fight for once not looking like he has been training down the pub.
Hopefully Young Mr Fury will also get himself into better shape than his previous outing (although an injury was touted as a reason for this) and provide us with a display that will make him a natural contender for Danny Williams British title. Maybe then Fury can seek revenge on Williams for the man he is named after. I see no reason why this British title match up could not happen before the year is out. Hopefully on terrestrial television also. I’d favour Fury to defeat Williams if the bout were to take place.