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John O'Donnell (boxer) facts for kids

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John O'Donnell
Statistics
Real name John O'Donnell
Rated at Welterweight
Nationality Irish
Born (1985-11-13) 13 November 1985 (age 39)
Galway, Ireland
Stance Southpaw
Boxing record
Total fights 36
Wins 33
Wins by KO 11
Losses 3
Draws 0

John O'Donnell (born 13 November 1985) is a London-based Irish Traveller professional boxer who is a former holder of the Commonwealth welterweight championship.

Professional boxing career

Early professional career

O'Donnell, had his first professional in April 2004 with a win over journeyman Jason Nesbitt at the Penningtons Nightclub in Bradford. Over the next three years he would fight 13 more times without defeat against a series of journeymen opponents before earning the right to fight for the English title in May 2007. His opponent for the vacant English belt was fellow unbeaten prospect Stuart Elwell. The fight ended with a 10 round points victory for O'Donnell. Following his win over Elwell, O'Donnell next travelled to Las Vegas in May 2007 to fight Mexican Christian Solano on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather's fight with Oscar De La Hoya. The bout ended with disappointment for the 15-0 prospect after the fight was stopped in the 2nd round giving victory to the Mexican. Such was the devastating nature of the defeat, O'Donnell took a year off from boxing and only returned in May 2008 with a win over journeyman Billy Smith. Four more victories followed in 2008 before being given the chance to fight for the Commonwealth title in 2009.

Commonwealth champion

O'Donnell's shot at a first major title came on 11 April 2009. In the opposite corner, the champion Craig Watson, had himself claimed the title with a win over Namibian Ali Nuumbembe and made one defence against Matthew Hatton, the brother of Ricky. It was a step up in class for O'Donnell and he signaled his entry into the top tier of domestic boxing with victory over Watson via a split decision in what was described as a close and scintillating contest. O'Donnell had been due to make the first defence of his newly won title on 5 September 2009 but due to problems making the weight had to settle for a non-title contest over 12 rounds against Tom Glover. The fight, shown live on ITV4, was too much of a step-up for Glover who was stopped in the 6th round with O'Donnell having taken full control. O'Donnell gave up the belt after coming under pressure from the Commonwealth council after a mandatory defence scheduled for 5 March 2010 against the Ghanaian boxer Philip Kotey fell through. On 7 May 2010 he stepped back into the ring to defeat Hungarian boxer Laszlo Balogh in the 5th round of an 8 round contest stating after the fight that he would like to meet Paul McCloskey in an all Irish contest for the European title. On 10 September 2010 O'Donnell fought the American former Olympic bronze medal winner Terrance Cauthen in an international contest at the York Hall. Winning the fight over 12 rounds O'Donnell claimed that Cauthen was the best boxer he had ever faced and that the reason why he gave up his Commonwealth belt was "because my team did not want that belt to hold me back, so I could go onto the next level".

British title challenge

On 19 February 2011 O'Donnell met former victim Craig Watson at the Wembley Arena to challenge for the vacant British title only for Watson to gain revenge by winning over 12 rounds.

Professional record

32 Wins (11 knockouts, 21 decisions), 2 Losses (1 knockout, 1 decision)
Res. Record Opponent Type Rd., Time Date Location Notes
Win 32-2 England Erick Ochieng SD 10 2017-03-18 England York Hall, Bethnal Green, England Won vacant Commonwealth English Welterweight title.
Win 31-2 England Tommy Tear PTS 10 2016-10-01 England York Hall, Bethnal Green, England Won vacant Commonwealth Southern Area Welterweight title.
Win 30-2 Czech Republic Jan Balog PTS 6 2015-12-05 England York Hall, Bethnal Green, England
Win 29-2 Hungary Laszlo Fazekas PTS 8 2015-05-02 Northern Ireland Lavey Centre, Derry, Northern Ireland
Win 28-2 England Jay Morris PTS 4 2013-07-06 England York Hall, Bethnal Green, England
Win 27-2 Northern Ireland Stephen Haughian PTS 8 2012-12-01 Northern Ireland Odyssey Arena, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Win 26-2 Dominican Republic Thomas Mendez UD 8 2012-10-12 Canada Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Win 25-2 England Martin Welsh PTS 8 2012-04-14 Northern Ireland Odyssey Arena, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Loss 24-2 England Craig Watson UD 12 2011-02-19 England Wembley Arena, Wembley, England For vacant Commonwealth British Welterweight title.
Win 24-1 United States Terrance Cauthen PTS 12 2010-09-10 England York Hall, Bethnal Green, England
Win 23-1 Hungary Laszlo Robert Balogh TKO 5 (8), 2:56 2010-05-07 England Kingsway Leisure Centre, Widnes, England
Win 22-1 England Tom Glover TKO 6 (12), 2:43 2009-09-05 England Colosseum, Watford, England
Win 21-1 England Craig Watson SD 12 2009-04-11 England York Hall, Bethnal Green, England Won Commonwealth (British Empire) Welterweight title.
Win 20-1 Germany Suleyman Dag TKO 3 (6), 1:03 2008-11-15 Republic of Ireland Breaffy House Resort, Castlebar, Ireland
Win 19-1 Latvia Sergejs Sayrinovics RTD 3 (8), 3:00 2008-10-04 England Norwich Showground, Norwich, England
Win 18-1 Latvia Sergejs Volodins TKO 5 (6) 2008-07-19 Republic of Ireland University Arena, Limerick, Ireland
Win 17-1 England Jay Morris TKO 6 (6), 2:44 2008-06-27 England York Hall, Bethnal Green, England
Win 16-1 England Billy Smith PTS 4 2008-05-10 England Nottingham Arena, Nottingham, England
Loss 15-1 Mexico Christian Solano TKO 2 (8), 1:50 2007-05-05 United States MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Win 15-0 England Stuart Elwell PTS 10 2007-03-23 England Nottingham Arena, Nottingham, England Won vacant BBBofC English Welterweight title.
Win 14-0 England Ernie Smith KO 2 (8), 2:20 2006-12-08 England Goresbrook Leisure Centre, Dagenham, England
Win 13-0 Niger Silence Saheed PTS 6 2006-09-15 England Alexandra Palace, Wood Green, England
Win 12-0 England Darren Gethin PTS 8 2006-07-12 England York Hall, Bethnal Green, England
Win 11-0 England Duncan Cottier RTD 3 (8) 2006-05-12 England York Hall, Bethnal Green, England
Win 10-0 England Karl Taylor PTS 4 2006-02-17 England York Hall, Bethnal Green, England
Win 9-0 Belgium Zaid Bediouri PTS 6 2006-01-28 Republic of Ireland National Boxing Stadium, Dublin, Ireland
Win 8-0 England Matt Scriven TKO 4 (6), 0:51 2006-01-20 England York Hall, Bethnal Green, England
Win 7-0 England Ben Hudson PTS 4 2005-10-21 England York Hall, Bethnal Green, England
Win 6-0 England Ben Hudson TKO 3 (6) 2005-07-09 England Nottingham Arena, Nottingham, England
Win 5-0 England Duncan Cottier PTS 4 2005-04-10 England Brentwood Centre, Brentwood, Essex, England
Win 4-0 England Ernie Smith PTS 6 2004-11-12 England Conference Centre, Wembley, England
Win 3-0 England Chris Long TKO 4 (6), 0:44 2004-09-24 England Nottingham Arena, Nottingham, England
Win 2-0 England Dave Hinds PTS 4 2004-06-12 England Nottingham Arena, Nottingham, England
Win 1-0 England Jason Nesbitt PTS 4 2004-04-16 England Town and Country Club, Leeds, England
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