Oor Wullie delivers in front of home fans by Craig MacKay Mar 30th 2008

Braveheart Promotions aimed to bring big time boxing back to the SECC in Glasgow last night with the first show since Prince Naseem Hamed graced the arena in 1996. The main event pitted the so nearly conqueror of Amir Khan, Willie Limond against Coatbridge boxer Martin Watson for the vacant IBO intercontinental title and it was Glasgow's Limond who prevailed, on points.  The title may not mean much in the boxing world but for Limond this was his chance to show why he deserves a rematch with Amir Khan and for Watson to really make a name for himself in front of a big crowd. Limond boasted an impressive twenty eight wins from thirty fights, with his only two losses coming against the aforementioned Khan and fellow Scot Alex Arthur. Watson came into the ring with a notable 14-2-0 record, which included a win over none other than Braveheart chief Barry Hughes. Before the main event got underway a group of pipers and drummers clad in attire from the Braveheart movie came out and made their way round the ring to the delight of the crowd who rose to their feet in appreciation. The stunt worked a treat and whipped up the crowd into a frenzy and really stepped up the atmosphere to a new level. Willie Limond's entrance got the biggest reception of the night and the hometown hero started like a train, connecting with great rights and lefts to Watson's body from inside. Limond's left lead looked sharp and had Watson unable to establish any sort of rhythm in the first round. One big right from Limond detonated on the face of Watson who stood up well to Limond's opening barrage but struggled to land anything significant of his own. The next three rounds followed a similar pattern, Limond circling to his right on the outside of the ring and probing Watson's body and head with his quick left hand lead. Watson did endeavour to get into the fight and began to throw his jab but he couldn't cope with Limond's speed and despite trying to throw more punches he misses with the majority thanks to Limond's swift upper body movement. One big right to the chin in round three had Watson looking unstable momentarily but he quickly recovered to see out the round. The fifth round saw Watson having his best round of the fight so far. He began to tag Limond with increasing frequency and even caught him with a few rights and lefts to the body of his own. Limond may have been tiring or just simply taking a breather after winning the first four rounds but Watson looked a far more confident fighter to the delight of his sizeable and boisterous following. The middle rounds of the fight for me all went in Limond's favour. He landed his punches with greater authority and demonstrated the superior workrate and his impressive work to the body on the inside was enough to nick the rounds. Watson found his range with his jab and continued to come forward making the rounds tough to score and ensuring that Limond had a tough fight on his hands. By the ninth round both fighters were standing toe-to-toe trading big rights set up by the jab but it was Limond's power that begins to tell on Watson who was looking an increasingly stationary target and is starting to mark up on the face. Watson's tired attempts to come forward proved futile thanks to Limond's continuous movement around the ring and his speed of the counter punch. Rounds ten and eleven saw Limond connect with uppercuts to the chin and thudding rights to the body whenever his opponent attempted to move inside. Watson refused to give up and his small flurries forward did manage to get his fans excited and howling their approval but in reality he was doing little to trouble Limond who seemed in complete control of the fight. The final round brought some exciting toe-to-toe action although neither fighter looked in danger of being floored by the shots coming their way. Limond again connected with the more meaningful blows towards the end of the round to do enough to clinch it. The final bell brought a standing ovation from the crowd in appreciation of two fighters who gave it everything they had for the twelve rounds. I scored the fight a near shutout for Limond, giving Watson only the fifth and a share of the eleventh and the Limond support seemed to agree, being in a jubilant mood before the scorecards were revealed. 119-111, 119-109 and 118-110 to the clear winner Willie Limond was announced and the result nearly brought the house down, proving how popular the Glasgow fighter is and how much his stock has risen since his close loss to Amir Khan. Martin Watson gave a valiant effort for the whole twelve rounds and can take heart from the fact that he was never in the same sort of danger as Khan, who was floored by Limond, at any point in the fight. I managed to grab a word with the new IBO intercontinental champion after the fight and he conceded that if a Khan rematch was ever to happen (which if I'm being honest I don't think it will) then he will need a few more impressive wins under his belt. A megabucks payday rematch may be at the top of Limond's wish list but more realistically, fights with Jon Thaxton, Yuri Romanov and Jon Murray could be big fights that have a real possibility of being made in the near future. A fantastic night of boxing topped off by a superb main event and I think Braveheart promotions can be proud of their attempt to bring the big time back to the SECC.

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