McNeil retires from Boxing after KO defeat by Tom Walker Mar 30th 2008

Colin McNeil (10st 10lbs 7oz) was surprisingly knocked out by Tyan Booth (10st 10lbs 2oz) of Nottingham in the opening round of their scheduled six rounder at the AECC last night and later it was announced that he had retired from the sport. This was the opening bout of the supporting matches on the WBU light-welterweight title fight won by Lee McAllister (see separate report). Giving away height and reach to the Nottingham boxer, his tactic of getting under the lead of Booth was the right one on paper, harrying the languidly styled Ingle switch hitter Booth. McNeil's corner called for him to use his left more obviously got through to him as he'd just begun to when the lights went out from a right to the temple which sent him to the canvas heavily. McNeil's head was a mere yard from mine and you could see that the blow to the temple had taken its toll. He'd got to his feet by the count of nine but referee Mark Curry was spot on to continue the count for the extra one second and count him out. Word came to me at ringside later from the McNeil camp that he'd retired from boxing and that being the case he's nothing to concern himself over. He's been there, done that, in both versions of the sport at levels which most boxers can only aspire to. I do hope though that he utilizes his experience to help the young boxers in Scotland with his wealth of knowledge. Nadeem Siddique (10st 2lb) and undefeated, entered the ring wearing a kilt in a gesture of support for McAllister. His opponent was the relatively unknown French boxer Salaheddine Sarhani at (10st 3lb). Siddique opened up the bout with a series of body shots to the ribcage of Sarhani who covered up for most of the round until he exploded a torrent of wild retaliatory hooks. This had the crowd excited and they obviously took to the game but limited Frenchman, cheering him whenever he unleashed this tactic. However for the most part Siddique was always in control, and only looked concerned when a left hook from Sarhani slammed into his unguarded face which had the Aberdeen fans cheering the diminutive Sarhani. Siddique was frankly looking a bit bored with it all, but paid heed to Dominic Ingle in his corner when he came out for the fourth round! Siddique had Sarhani down for two standing counts early in the round with body shots which were hurtful to watch much less receive. The third time he went down from one of these, Victor Loughlin dispensed with the count at the 2 min 43 second mark of the 4th round and Siddique continued his unbeaten run. The fans though had taken to the game little Frenchman which is scant consolation when your ribs are as sore as his will be this morning. Adam “The Outlaw” Kelly (10st 6lb) was rematched with Mark Bett of Larkhall at (10st 6lb 10oz). Kelly would seem to have Betts number though, as he won this one by dint of his better work and the fact that Bett ran out of steam early in the bout! How can a professional boxer look so tired so early in the bout? Bett had either taken this at very short notice or has been skimping on his stamina training. Bett did have sporadic success in the 3rd round, enough to galvanise his corner, but then he didn't keep it up for any time. Kelly's straight left was magnetically drawn to the target and he could hardly miss with it. Despite protests from the blue corner (Bett's) the victory went to the Yorkshire man and deservedly so with a 60-56 margin. Paul David (12st 9lb 9oz) was matched against veteran warhorse from Ghana, Ayittey Powers (12st 3lb) over six rounds in the final match of the undercard. This was a disappointment for me as Powers could have, and should have, shown so much more than he did. In the end it was a canter for David with only flashes of what have might have been coming from the Ghanaian. He (Powers) seemed to have a bemused grin on his face from start to finish, content as he was to soak up everything David threw at him. Defence is an essential part of your armoury in boxing, but you're not going to win if you don't throw something resembling a punch to the target area during the bout, and I could count on one hand the number of combinations Powers threw. His corner were likewise frustrated by his lethargy, demanding that he show some pride only to be met with the cheesy grin. I suppose he (Powers) thought that David would tire and he could just take him out with a single shot, but if that were the case then he was much mistaken. All in all then the show turned out better than anticipated, as the constant changing of opponents had given concern that McAllister's reputation was being tarnished by mismatches and lack of support, but the fans would have had a good night out with the end result just what they wanted. With two belts in his possession then it remains to be seen what avenue the “Aberdeen Assassin” goes down next.

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