Headline News

John O’Donnell has title fight confirmed

Almost 10 years to the day since he first won the belt, Galway welterweight John O’Donnell [31(11)-2(1)] will look to reclaim the English title fight.

O’Donnell won the BBBoC Southern Area title in October and looked set to challenge for Johnny Garton’s English belt. Garton would vacate however, leaving the London-based Irishman in line for a title fight with hot prospect Darren Tetley.

Tetley too withdrew from the ordered clash, and O’Donnell will now face Eric Ochieng [16(4)-6(1)-1] for the vacant belt – in a fight that doubles as a British title eliminator – on a Steve Goodwin show at the York Hall on Saturday 18th March.

31 year old O’Donnell rolled back the years in October to defeat the younger Tommy Tear, and the southpaw will hope to continue his resurgence against the Kenyan-born former champion.

‘The Eagle’ Ochieng will be familiar to Irish fans as the man who downed Paddy Gallagher twice, and hit the floor once himself, en-route to winning their Prizefighter quarter final in 2013, only to feel unwell following the fight and allowing the Belfast man to re-enter in his place.

In his previous fight in October, Ochieng was narrowly (96:94) outpointed in a BBBoC Southern Area light middleweight title fight with Asinia Byfield.

Joe O'Neill

Reporting on Irish boxing the past five years. Work has appeared on irish-boxing.com, Boxing News, the42.ie, and local and national media. Provide live ringside updates, occasional interviews, and special features on the future of Irish boxing. email: joneill6@tcd.ie

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