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

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

-based

Irish Traveller Irish Travellers (, meaning ''the walking people''), also known as Mincéirs (Shelta: ''Mincéirí'') or Pavees, are a traditionally List of nomadic peoples#Peripatetic, peripatetic Indigenous peoples, indigenous Ethnic group, ethno-cultural g ...

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 fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

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 th ...

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 status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

. 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 Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

in May 2007 to fight Mexican Christian Solano on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather's fight with

Oscar De La Hoya Oscar De La Hoya ( , ; born February 4, 1973) is an American Promoter (entertainment), boxing promoter and former professional boxing, professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2008. His accolades include winning 11 list of boxing sextuple ch ...

. 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 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 field as a fully qualified employee ...

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 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 de ...

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 Wembley Arena () (originally the Empire Pool, currently known as OVO Energy, OVO Arena Wembley for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena next to Wembley Stadium in Wembley, Greater London, England. The 12,500-seat facility is Greater Lond ...

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 , , , , , , , 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 , , , , , , , 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, Terrance Cauthen , , , , , , , 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, Stuart Elwell , , , , , , , 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 Living people Boxers from County Galway English male boxers Irish male boxers Welterweight boxers Irish Traveller sportspeople 21st-century English sportsmen 21st-century Irish sportsmen