John O'Donnell (born 13 November 1985) is a

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

-based

Irish Traveller Irish Travellers ( ga, an lucht siúil, meaning "the walking people"), also known as Pavees or Mincéirs (Shelta: Mincéirí), are a traditionally peripatetic indigenous ethno-cultural group in Ireland.''Questioning Gypsy identity: ethnic na ...

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

who is a former holder of the Commonwealth

welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like Muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify the ...

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 Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

. 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 Stuart Elwell (born 14 December 1977) is a professional boxer from Darlaston in the Black Country, England. He became a professional boxer in the year 2000. His first fight was against Ernie Smith at Wolverhampton Civic Hall, which he won on poi ...

. The fight ended with a 10 round points victory for O'Donnell. Following his win over Elwell, O'Donnell next travelled to

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

in May 2007 to fight Mexican Christian Solano on the undercard of

Floyd Mayweather Floyd may refer to: As a name * Floyd (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Floyd (surname), a list of people and fictional characters Places in the United States * Floyd, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Floyd, I ...

's fight with

Oscar De La Hoya Oscar De La Hoya ( , ; born on February 4, 1973) is an American boxing promoter and former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2008. His accolades include winning 11 world titles in six weight classes, including the lineal championshi ...

. 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 A journeyman, journeywoman, or journeyperson is a worker, skilled in a given building trade or craft, who has successfully completed an official apprenticeship qualification. Journeymen are considered competent and authorized to work in that fie ...

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 Paulus Ali Nuumbembe (born 24 June 1978 in Oshakati, Oshana Region, Namibia) is a Namibian welterweight boxer. Nicknamed "The Silent Assassin", Nuumbembe is a former Commonwealth champion who represented Namibia at the 2000 Summer Olympics and t ...

and made one defence against

Matthew Hatton Matthew James "Matty" Hatton (born 15 May 1981) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2000 to 2013. He held the European welterweight title from 2010 to 2011, and challenged once for the WBC light-middleweight title in the l ...

, 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 A split decision (SD) is a winning criterion in boxing, most commonly in full-contact combat sports, in which two of the three judges score one particular competitor as the winner, while the third judge scores for the other competitor. A split dec ...

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 ITV4 is a Television in the United Kingdom, British free-to-air television channel which was launched on 1 November 2005. It is owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc, and is part of the ITV (TV network), ITV network. The channel h ...

, 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 Paul McCloskey (born 3 August 1979) is a former professional boxer from Northern Ireland who competed from 2005 to 2013. He held the British super-lightweight title from 2008 to 2009; the European super-lightweight title from 2009 to 2011; an ...

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 Terrance Davin Cauthen (born May 14, 1976) is an American boxer. Nicknamed "Heat", Cauthen won the Lightweight Bronze medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics. Cauthen grew up in Trenton, New Jersey and trained in Philadelphia.Longman, Jere"BO ...

in an international contest at the

York Hall The York Hall, officially known as York Hall Leisure Centre, is a multi-purpose indoor arena and leisure complex in Bethnal Green, London, and is situated on Old Ford Road. The building opened in 1929 with a capacity of 1,200 and is now an inte ...

. 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 Wembley Arena (originally the Empire Pool, now known as OVO Arena Wembley for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena next to Wembley Stadium in Wembley, London, England, used for music, comedy, family entertainment and sport. The 12,500-sea ...

to challenge for the vacant British title only for Watson to gain revenge by winning over 12 rounds.Sporting Life , Watson gains revenge on O'Donnell

Professional record

, - style="margin:0.5em auto; font-size:95%;" , align="center" colspan=8, 32 Wins (11 knockouts, 21 decisions), 2 Losses (1 knockout, 1 decision) , - style="margin:0.5em auto; font-size:95%;" , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Res. , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Record , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Opponent , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Type , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Rd., Time , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Date , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Location , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Notes , -align=center , -align=center , Win, , 32-2 , , align=left,

Erick Ochieng Erick Ochieng (born 5 May 1987) is a British professional boxer in the Welterweight division and former BBBofC English super-welterweight champion. Ochieng was born in Kaloleni, Nairobi, Kenya. He was raised by his grandmother, and following ...

, , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , -align=center , Win, , 31-2 , , align=left, Tommy Tear , , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 30-2 , , align=left, Jan Balog , , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 29-2 , , align=left, Laszlo Fazekas , , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 28-2 , , align=left, Jay Morris , , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 27-2 , , align=left,

Stephen Haughian Stephen Haughian (born 20 November 1984) is a professional boxer from Lurgan, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Amateur career Haughian had little experience boxing as a senior amateur but did represent Ireland at national level and was victo ...

, , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 26-2 , , align=left, Thomas Mendez , , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 25-2 , , align=left, Martin Welsh , , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Loss, , 24-2 , , align=left, Craig Watson , , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 24-1 , , align=left,

, , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 23-1 , , align=left, Laszlo Robert Balogh , , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 22-1 , , align=left, Tom Glover , , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 21-1 , , align=left, Craig Watson , , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 20-1 , , align=left, Suleyman Dag , , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 19-1 , , align=left, Sergejs Sayrinovics , , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 18-1 , , align=left, Sergejs Volodins , , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 17-1 , , align=left, Jay Morris , , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 16-1 , , align=left, Billy Smith , , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Loss, , 15-1 , , align=left, Christian Solano , , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 15-0 , , align=left,

, , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 14-0 , , align=left, Ernie Smith , , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 13-0 , , align=left, Silence Saheed , , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 12-0 , , align=left, Darren Gethin , , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 11-0 , , align=left, Duncan Cottier , , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 10-0 , , align=left, Karl Taylor , , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 9-0 , , align=left, Zaid Bediouri , , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 8-0 , , align=left, Matt Scriven , , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 7-0 , , align=left, Ben Hudson , , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 6-0 , , align=left, Ben Hudson , , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 5-0 , , align=left, Duncan Cottier , , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 4-0 , , align=left, Ernie Smith , , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 3-0 , , align=left, Chris Long , , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 2-0 , , align=left, Dave Hinds , , , , , , , align=left, , align=left, , -align=center , Win, , 1-0 , , align=left, Jason Nesbitt , , , , , , , align=left, , align=left,

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Odonnell, John 1985 births 20th-century Irish people 21st-century Irish people Living people People from County Galway English male boxers Sportspeople from County Galway Irish male boxers Welterweight boxers Irish Traveller sportspeople Irish Travellers