On the 27th November, at the Robin Park Centre in Wigan, Anthony ‘The Scream’ Small (22 (KO 16)-1-0) defends his British and Commonwealth Light Middleweight titles for the first time, against former WBU International Light Middleweight Champion Thomas ‘Storm Boy’ McDonagh (34 (KO7)-2-3). Back in July ’09, at the M.E.N. Arena in Manchester, Small stopped Matthew ‘El Torito’ Hall in the 8th round of a fight he spectacularly dominated from start to finish. His game plan, of hit and clinch, clearly frustrated the much larger Mancunian who became quite negative as the fight progressed. So much so that by the fifth round Hall began looking dazed and confused, his work rate dropping dramatically, as if he already knew the fight was slipping away from him..
Things got much worse for Hall in the seventh when he was cut over the right eye. This was a bad cut that leaked blood constantly into his eye. Following the cut opening, Small began throwing huge shots. Literally fighting for survival, Hall began to fight back hard throwing huge shots of his own.
In the eighth round Small came out strong throwing power punch after power punch. Finally Small landed a hard right to the head of Hall, which clearly hurt the Mancunian badly. Small then unleashed an avalanche of heavy punches until the referee, James Davies, was forced to step in at the 2:21 minute mark to save Hall from more punishment.
Small is clearly determined now that he has both the British and Commonwealth titles that they will stay in his possession for the foreseeable future. As part of his preparations for his upcoming clash with McDonagh, Small, from Deptford. South East London, has been spending much of his time at Rooney’s Boxing Gym, close to London Bridge, sparring with house fighters Karol ‘Dr KO’ Ozimkowski, Ben ‘The Entertainer’ Day and Darren ‘Mr R&B’ Hamilton.
Following one of the many sparring sessions Small took a little time to talk about his preparations for the upcoming showdown with McDonagh.
“Training has been going really well, can’t complain. I’ve been working hard, totally dedicated. You see a lot of fighters they train to make weight, they start overweight and train to lose weight. I’m already on weight so I train for speed, power, strength and skill. When I get on the scales Im already there.
The sparring’s been going really well. They’re great guys here at Rooney’s gym. I’ve been sparring some lighter guys here and we’ve been rotating things, doing two rounds in and two rounds out with weights on my feet, as I’m working on speed. I want to mix it up, obviously it’s to my advantage to be faster on my feet. It’s going really, really well.”
Clearly happy with the way his training has been going for the 27th November fight, Small turned his attention to current European champion Ryan Rhodes, who he feels has been avoiding him, by saying. “I was born ready, I’m one of the best fighters in the world and I’m gonna prove it. I’m gonna prove that I’m not just one of the best fighters, I am the best fighter in the world.
Well, Ryan Rhodes just won the European title. He vacated the British title rather than fight me. There’s an old saying in boxing, Joe Louis said ‘you can run but you cannot hide’. So if he’s talking about going on to bigger and better things, and he probably will do, I’ll tell him now this is the biggest, baddest thing out there, so he has nowhere to run to. If he does get a world title I’ll be hot on his heels, so he can either fight me now or fight me later. I’m chasing glory, I’m at the peak of my career, anyone that gets in my way will get crushed.”
Whilst the thought of Anthony Small and Ryan Rhodes getting in the ring to face each other is without doubt a mouthwatering prospect, Small’s upcoming fight with McDonagh has the potential to be a classic in it’s self. Small’s opponent, McDonagh, has only been beaten by Wayne Alexander, by split decision, and Sam Webb by a close 96-95 points decision.
Anthony ‘The Scream’ Small vs Thomas ‘Storm Boy’ McDonagh, for the British and Commonwealth Light Middleweight titles, headlines the Ricky Hatton promoted, Sky Sports televised, event at the Robin Park Centre in Wigan on Friday the 27th November 2009.
As promised, catBOX delivered one of the best main events in Oklahoma history!
In what could only be described as another spectacular sold-out catBOX event, catBOX fighters Noah Zuhdi and Eric Fields were in top form November 12, 2009, at Remington Park when they both knocked out their opponents.
In the co-main event, undefeated Oklahoma Lightweight Champ Zuhdi knocked out Robert Flaherty 1:49 minutes into the second round with a devastating lead left hook. In besting Flaherty, Zuhdi has expanded his record to 9-0, all by knockout.
Cruiserweight Eric Fields then got into the ring to fight Adam Harris in the main event. Harris came to fight, but it was clear Fields won each round before the fourth when he knocked Harris down with a body shot. Second later, Fields knocked him down again and the fight was stopped. Fields is now 13-1 (11 KOs).
Other fights on the card…
Super middleweight Delray Raines defeated David Robinson by TKO 2:50 minutes into the second round.
Ron “the Iceman” Aubrey KO’d Marcus Brown in round one.
Mitchell Raines beat Travis Hoffman by TKO in round one.