Lee McAllister wins second WBU belt by Tom Walker Mar 30th 2008

Lee McAllister won a second WBU belt and the “Aberdeen Assassin” did so in a bout which pushed him harder than any of his previous fights. He did so against a stuffy opponent, Mihaita Mutu, a France-based Romanian, who wasn't averse to using his forearm and elbow not to mention several holds which would have been better suited to the WWE rather than the WBU. The event had been a sell out long before the various changes to the opponent for the title had been finalized, and the atmosphere was exceptional even by McAllister's standards. The event was televised by Grampian television on behalf of Setanta and is to be shown in the near future. With the MC Craig Stevens in a kilt and Elaine Cairns belting out the “Flower of Scotland”, not to mention two scantily-kilted ring card girls it certainly gave the bout an undoubtedly Scottish flavour which brought a wry smile from Larry O'Connell who was one of the three judges, the others being Karl Rogers and Reg Thompson. I've covered every one of McAllister's fights in Aberdeen, but even I was taken aback with the fervour emanating from the support. The bout itself wasn't a classic by any means. However, the end justifies the means and the end of the bout saw McAllister with his two belts, lightweight and light-welterweight draped over his shoulder to the obvious delight of the partisan crowd. Mihaita Mutu, 9st 13lb 10ozs, started with his hands very low in an apparently relaxed fashion while McAllister, 9st 13lb 3ozs, speared his jab onto the target with enough success to ensure the opening round was his unequivocally, and at the same time the Romanian promptly raised his guard. McAllister was working well behind his jab and preventing Mutu from launching anything of his own. On the odd occasion when Mutu did throw something it was usually in singles and in the form of lunging with his jab and as it was at the end of its travel unlikely to cause any pain to the local man. In the third round Mutu did catch McAllister with a smart counter in the very early stages of the round, but this merely galvanized McAllister much to his support's delight. In the fourth both boxers fell to the canvas at the start with no one at fault they were merely off balance unlike what came later. Mutu was becoming more effective by now and his right cross did look a bit on the heavy side in what was a fairly even round. In the fifth the Rumanian acknowledged the effectiveness of McAllister's right cross to Mutu's head. McAllister had a trickle of blood coming from his nose which is of no real concern to him but the use of the elbow by Mutu should be, as he (Mutu) got a very stern warning from referee Victor Loughlin for his use of it. The sixth and a three and four punch combination from McAllister had his fans rising vocally, but it also spurred on the opponent, who was by this time pushing McAllister harder than some of his previous ones, but it was McAllister's round for his work rate and persistent jabbing with weight. Mutu looked dangerous in flashes, which meant that McAllister had to stay focused and keep Mutu on the back foot which nullified anything he (Mutu) can offer. Mutu wrestled McAllister to the floor and got another ticking off from the referee. You'd think that despite the language barrier he'd have understood referee Loughlin's gestures, well you'd be wrong! Mutu pushed McAllister to the floor twice at the outset of the eighth and got a public warning with the attendant loss of points which he can ill afford. Before the end of the eigth they were both on the canvas again, this time without penalty to either. The very next round and Mutu was using his elbow again across the throat of McAllister, and was lucky he was blindside of the referee as he was bordering on a second public warning. The crispness of the early stages has gone as they're both tiring, more I think from pushing than physical tiredness from the punches thrown. Yet again they both tumble to the canvas and we've still got three rounds to go! Mutu's corner were obviously telling him in no uncertain terms that he needed a miracle, at least I assume them to be saying that, as it is in Romanian and he came out for the tenth like a greyhound, fortunately for McAllister there was a break in proceedings as the tape on Mutu's glove was hanging loose and this broke his (Mutu's) rhythm, the “Assassin” was letting Mutu back into the fight by not keeping him at the end of his jab as much as he'd done earlier. If the Romanian is eating the leather from McAllister's jab the he can't work himself. The 11th saw Mutu's best round by a mile as he became more direct and took the fight to the local man. The consolation being that they (the shots) don't have the same venom they'd have had earlier as we reach the final stages of this bout. The final round and McAllister came back to his old self by jabbing with confidence and keeping Mutu at bay. The bell sounded and score cards from the judges gave a unanimous decision to McAllister. 116-112 Larry O'Connell, 118-111 Karl Rogers, 119-109 Reg Thompson This was tougher than most if not all McAllister's previous opponents and he's off now on a well earned holiday before making his next move as a professional.

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what a joke Mar 30th 2008, 06:03:55 by adamdaly I have all the respect in the world for McAllister but to call him a world champion let alone a 2 weight world champion is an insult to boxing fans. BritishBoxing.net shouldn't allow articles like this on their site. Ed. responds - you're completely correct, in my view. I did a slight re-write of the intro and headline.