To start off this boxing round-up, it was amazing experience for myself to head a long to The SSE Hydro last night. What an incredible set up and production the World Boxing Super Series has produced and no doubt this tournament will continue to grow strength to strength. Read below for my thoughts on the Burnett vs Donaire and Taylor vs Martin fights.
Burnett vs Donaire
Ryan Burnett was going into this fight very much as the favourite as he was coming up against former P4P star Nonito Donaire. Burnett came out looking the stronger in the opening three rounds using his speed and technique against and aging Donaire who had dropped down to Bantamweight from Featherweight. However, in round four disaster struck for Ryan Burnett after an exchange of punches with Donaire, he threw a punch that caused freak injury to his back. It was counted for a knock down which Burnett very bravely manged to get up and survive the rest of the round.
Rd 4…it’s over #BurnettDonaire
Looks like Burnett hurt his hip/back? Real shame it’s ended like this. ☹️#WBSS2 #WBSS
— Boxing Life (@Boxing__Life) November 3, 2018
Going back to his corner, trainer Adam Booth made the right and best decision to retire Burnett from the fight, as there was no way he could continue with that injury. It was real shame for the fight ending this way as it was shaping up to be a competitive fight and good clash of styles. Donaire showed real class after the fight making sure Burnett was okay and looked just as gutted for Burnett despite becoming world champion again. The Filipino said:
“As a warrior, Burnett is an amazing fighter, early on he just kept coming at me. A win is a win and it wasn’t the way I would like to win but he’s an amazing fighter.
“Age is nothing but a number. He was fast, strong and caught me with some good punches. I came into this fight as the bigger guy and my coaches snapped me out of it and told me to box.”
The ‘Filipino Flash’ will now head into the semi-final against highly rated WBO bantamweight champion Tete from South Africa in what should be another interesting match-up. For Burnett, I think we all wish him a speedy recovery which will take him a while to come back to his best from.
Taylor vs Martin
This was obviously the fight the home fans were all waiting for and there was big expectations on Josh Taylor to come up with the goods last night. From round one, Taylor looked to be the far superior fighter with his crafty footwork around ring and combinations to the body. Martin didn’t really have anything to answer for and seemed to really struggle with closing down his opponent or getting shots away all night.
By round six you could clearly see this was probably just a step too far for Martin, as Josh Taylor was giving him a complete boxing lesson. It was starting to look like a matter of time for the American and this of course came in the seventh round.
RND 7 – Taylor wins by KO ??
Dominated the whole fight, it was just a matter of time! Fair play to Martin giving it go! Really classy performance tonight from Taylor.#TaylorMartin #WBSS #WBSS2 #joshtaylor #AliTrophy pic.twitter.com/cV8Qj4a416
— Boxing Life (@Boxing__Life) November 3, 2018
Taylor threw a flurry of shots at Martin’s guard which exposed his head to a borderline back of the head shot from the Scot. Martin held his head as he staggered backward only for the referee to step in and stop the fight. A truly classy performance from the former Commonwealth Gold medalist, who will now move onto the semi-final against IBF world champion Ivan Baranchyk in what should be a much tougher opponent for the Scot. He said:
“I am very happy with the way the performance went tonight. I knew I was going to win the fight. Credit to Ryan but the fight was easy for me, I never got out of second gear. I’m ready for this next fight. This is me just getting started. I’m 100 percent confident and I don’t think there is anyone going to stop me.”
All round a really good night of boxing at the World Super Boxing Super Series! If you get the opportunity you should definitely give it go, if you want to watch the event again you can do so by clicking here.
If you haven’t done so make to give me a follow on Twitter and would appreciate any shares! Till next time!
J
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