McBride Stopped in the Sixth by a Better Conditioned Golota

Report and images by Neil McDaid

October 6, 2007 - Madison Square Garden, NY -- With the IBF North American Heavyweight Championship on the line, Ireland’s Kevin “The Clones Colossus” McBride, fighting out of Boston, would step into the ring against Poland’s Andrew “The Polish Powerhouse“ Golota, fighting out of the Windy City. This was to be an important fight for these two big heavyweights who have recently struggling to find their way. Coming off his memorable victory over “Iron” Mike Tyson in 2005, Kevin McBride has struggled to continue on the path to a meaningful world title fight; his last outing was a disappointing loss to Mike Mollo just a year ago for the vacant WBA heavyweight title in Chicago.
Down through the years Andrew Golota has had several shots at various world titles, but he has also struggled to rise to the occasion. Golota’s last big fight was a title fight with Lamon Brewster where he lost by TKO in the first round. On this night it would all come down to the survival of the fittest, unfortunately for Kevin it would all go wrong in the sixth round.
As he made his entrance McBride was jeered and booed by the large number of Polish fans that turned out to see their man Golota, who was once again on the sport’s greatest stage. McBride would be lead to the ring by a lone piper. Kevin seemed visibly taken aback by the reception from the crowd as he peered from under his robe. Boos turned to cheers as Golota entered into view. At the prefight weigh in McBride would tip the scales at 288lbs, some 37lbs heaver that his opponent. Kevin would hold a slight height, reach and age advantage over Golota, though.
From the opening bell of the first round it was an all out battle. McBride would lunge into action first almost taking out the referee as he charged towards Golota. Both fighters would feel each other out with the left jab, soon followed by some big overhead right hooks when the opportunity arose. Standing toe to toe in center ring McBride would connect to the head of Golota, a solid connection that seemed to rock the polish heavyweight as he moved away on his heels. Golota would get a chance to regain himself as the ref called a time out to replace Golota’s mouth piece. Two overhead rights from Kevin followed up by a swift undercut had Golota in a daze again. Pushing forward Kevin would get in yet another crushing left hook, but somehow Golota would hang on until the bell. It would prove to be McBride’s best round of the bout.
Both fighters would open the second again working the jab to the head, with very little directed to the body. Showing up for this important fight weighing in at 288lbs McBride was clearly out of shape, but surprisingly Kevin was showing some improved hand speed. Golota worked around McBride’s mass, obviously the fitter fighter.
McBride looked winded as the seconds ticked away in round two, his extra weigh showing as he lunged awkwardly forward in search of Golota. It was a rough and tumble affair through the third and fourth rounds with McBride often stepping back, dropping his guard down as he gasped for air.

An accidental clash of heads in the fifth could possibly have started to open a slight cut below the left eye of McBride. With a little over a minute left in the sixth both fighters would battle hard along the ropes. McBride would drive a hard left to the body of Golota but unfortunately McBride was unable to follow up. Golota would return with a lovely left hook of his own to the head of McBride, sending Kevin back onto the ropes. Kevin had nothing left, with blood streaming from McBride’s left eye referee Arthur Mercate had seen enough. Mercate’s reason for stopping the fight was that, “Kevin was winded. He took a lot of shots; he can fight on another day.”

With his legion of loyal fans decked out in the colors of their country the victory and the title would go to Golota by way of TKO bringing his record to 40-6-1, 33 Kos. “Kevin surprised me, he was faster than I thought he would be, and he didn’t get tired. I proved tonight that I can still fight with anyone,” said Golota after the fight.
With the current state of the heavyweight title belts the dream is not dead for McBride, but in saying that he will need to get with the program, as the hill has just become steeper. Kevin will need to greatly improve his fitness level. Had McBride come into this fight in the same condition as when he took Mike Tyson to the mat, I would have to think that he could have finished Golota in the first or second round.


Images and report ©Neil McDaid

BOXING: Big Kevin McBride looks to floor Andrew Golota in NY Saturday, Also there is a last minute change of plans for John Duddy

Kevin McBride will be looking to make his mark at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night as he looks to get his World Championship hopes back on track. He will face off against Andrew Golota.

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World title fight looks to be closer than expected for Duddy.

John Duddy has been hit with a late change of opponent for his headline bout on the next Hunky Dorys Fight Night at the National Stadium on October 20th.

The New York based Derryman had been set to meet Pablo Navascues but the Spaniard has been forced to withdraw courtesy of an ongoing ankle injury which had seriously disrupted his preparations for the bout.

Stepping in to fill the void is Uruguay’s Noe Tulio Gonzalez Alcoba.

The South American is fresh from a battling bid for Felix Sturm’s WBA middleweight title in Germany this summer and believes he can work his way to a second world title shot with a win over Duddy.

Duddy of course has world title ambitions of his own and with talk of a challenge to the new middleweight kingpin Kelly Pavlik early next year Gonzalez could prove a deadly obstacle.

The sole defeat of Gonzalez 15 fight career came at the hands of Sturm in June but the 28-year-old’s points defeat in Stuttgart suggested that he is capable of mixing it with the very nest in the middleweight division.

“This is a dangerous fight for John,” said promoter Brian Peters. “With Kelly Pavlik’s impressive win over Jermain Taylor last weekend the middleweight picture has really opened up and John is perfectly positioned to take advantage of that. He’s highly ranked with all the major sanctioning bodies and a very marketable challenger for any of the champions, including Pavlik.

“All of that will go out the window though if he can’t get past Gonzalez and he is a tough, hard man. He’s just coming off the back of that points defeat for the WBA title and he made Sturm work very hard to retain his title. One judge only had Sturm winning by a margin of 116 – 112 so I expect Gonzalez to really push John and there’s no doubt it’s a risky assignment given the kind of options on the table for John now.”


Gonzalez’s performance in defeat against Sturm is all the more notable given that the German is best known for his highly controversial points defeat to Oscar De La Hoya in 2004.

The Argentinean based fighter’s trip to Germany was his first time fighting abroad and he says the experience gained in Germany will make all the difference against Duddy.

“I learned a lot from my fight with Sturm and that defeat will make me a better fighter.

“I know that Duddy will be a very hard fight but my dream is to become world champion, for me and Uruguay. My life hasn’t been easy and I want to make it better. Beating Duddy will be the next step to another world title fight and realising my dream.”

Also featuring on the night of the Celtic Tigers at the National Stadium is Irish middleweight champion Matthew Macklin, undefeated light welterweight Paul McCloskey and unbeaten Lurgan prospect Stephen Haughian.

The full 9 fight card will be confirmed next week.

Tickets for the “Celtic Tigers” Hunky Dorys Fight Night at the National Stadium, Dublin on October 20th are priced from €50 and are available from Ticketmaster.ie and all usual outlets.

International Rally New York

Burke takes rally Victory at International Rally New York
By Neil McDaid

Ellenville NY, September 7, 2007. It has been many years since Ulster County has heard the sound of race engines roar through the Catskill Mountains. The last official event was back in the seventies when racers attacked the historic Ellenville Hill Climb. International Rally New York (IRNY) would bring motorsports and rally fans back to Ellenville for round seven of the United States Rally Championship, which was run in conjunction with the Rally New York Championship.
The rally would be contested over two days, combining some fantastic tarmac stages on day one with some proven gravel tests on day two. For the defending USRC champion, Seamus Burke, it was an opportunity to avenge his disastrous showing in the Catskills earlier in the year. The headquarters for IRNY was located at Nevele Grande Resort just outside of Ellenville, a majestic property which is also making a comeback after some tough years.
Charlie Donnelly and co-driver Noel Gallagher would come into IRNY as the 2007 points leaders in the USRC and therefore would start number one on the road Friday. As the teams set out to tackle the 15 tarmac stages, Mitsubishis would make up the top five starting positions in the rally and were all piloted by Irish crews.
SS1, “Wintish 1,” a short 2.9 mile test would offer up a few hairy moments for those a bit rusty on their tarmac skills, none more so than Joseph Burke and co-driver Jeremy Wimpy. Joseph would roll his Acura in spectacular style about half way into SS1. Both driver and co-driver would walk away unharmed apart from a bit of bruised pride that is.

Joseph Burke, [left] would walk away unharmed from his big roll on SS1 [Piture: Neil McDaid]

Despite having some problems selecting forth gear Seamus Burke would set the fastest time on SS1 by some eight seconds over Charlie Donnelly. Enda McCormack charged to within one second off Donnelly’s time for third. Over SS2, Old “Greenfield 1,” Burke would again set fastest time, but the gap had narrowed as Charlie closed the stage time to three seconds. In one of his rare showings, New York publican Gerard Coffey took a break from pulling pints and set some very respectable times on the early tarmac stages in his Evo 8. He would set the fastest time over SS 3.

Enda McCormack had a great drive on day-one before gearbox problems arose. [Picture: Neil McDaid]

At the end of the first leg of the rally, which covered six stages, Seamus Burke had eked out a 32 second lead over an excellent drive from Gerard Coffey and Dave Dooley who moved up to second. Enda McCormack and Bernard Farrell held their starting position in third. Flying the flag for Poland, Maciej Przybysc and Constantine Mantopoulos in the Impreza held forth. Despite a big moment on SS5 Martin O’Flynn and Damien Treanor would round out the top five in their Mitsubishi Eclipse.
Trouble for the championship leader Donnelly as he rolled into the first major service of the day, almost a minute down to Burke. Charlie’s Mitsubishi was only running on three cylinders. Rally leader Burke was also having some mechanical issues; he had all but lost forth gear over the early stages.
On to leg two, SS7 “Tempaloni 1”. Those expecting to see Charlie Donnelly running first on the stage were somewhat surprised to see Burke running first. We would later learn that Donnelly returned to service with continuing problems.

A hairpin turn on SS7 would prove a little difficult for some. O’Flynn slid wide and leveled a section of stone/wood fence. Not to be outdone, Arkadiusz Gruszka would better the Irishman as he took out two sections. The rally would move from Ellenville to Monticello for the fast sweeping stage through the Concord Resort and Golf Course. It would be run four times to make up the final stages on day one. Despite missing forth gear Burke controlled all but one stage on the opening day to stay ahead of the pack. Despite a great effort on the tar Gerald Coffey would not enter the gravel section of the rally on day two.
The first of the gravel stages on day two, SS16 “Rogues Harbor 1,” would start just outside of Ellenville where the local residents turned out to get a stage-side seat for all the action. Running first on the road, Burke would roll to a stop at the spectator area suffering continued issues with gear selection. After a few frustrating moments, Seamus managed to get a gear and was off again. Maciej Przybysc would not get away as easily. Pushing hard through Burke’s dust trail, Maciej would lose control of his Impreza and collide hard into a tree ending his event. Charlie Donnelly would make a return on day two under the super rally rules but it was short lived. Donnelly would blow his engine on SS17.
With Burke still leading the charge, crews would make the long transit over to Narrowsburg for 8 stages, which were run utilizing two sections of forest roads. At the first short service on Saturday with Przybysc and Donnelly out, Enda McCormack was settling into second; Cyril Kearney held third. McCormack would begin to report gear selection problems on SS20 and things went quickly downhill from there. Coming into the only major service of the day, Enda had no clutch and could not engage 4th or 5th gears.

Finton Seeley and Carrie Wilburn were in the hunt until their retirement on day-two [photo: Neil McDaid]

Despite taking full advantage of McCormack’s problems and moving to second, things were not all rosy over in the Kearney service area. Cyril had clipped a rock and cracked the casing on his rear differential. Luckily he had a spare and his crew made the swap within the time limits. Leaving service for the final three stages of the rally, McCormack would have to get the car rolling using the starter. It was questionable if he could hold onto third or even finish the rally.
In the end McCormack would hold onto third despite a late objection from another competitor. A delighted Cyril Kearney would claim second some eleven minutes adrift of overall rally winners, the Donegal crew of Seamus Burke and Eddie Fries.
Rafal Liptopad whose VW Golf stalked the injured Mitsubishi of Enda McCormack through the final stages would claim top honors in two wheel drive.
Unofficially, this victory moves Burke ahead of Charlie Donnelly in the point’s race for the USRC. Enda McCormack sits third. With only one event left on the east coast, the Eastern States Rally Championship is wide open and will be decided at Black River Stages at the end of the month.
From there it will be onto Laughlin, Nevada for the final showdown in the desert to the decide the USRC title.

*Some video footage from the Rally can be found at

www.youtube.com/Abhusanseo

R.I.P Colin McRae 1968-2007

www.colinmcrae.com