Quartey Loses Commonwealth Title

A PIECE of boxing history was made in Aberdeen (Scotland) last night when Lee McAllister became the first Scot to hold two Commonwealth titles at different weights simultaneously.

The Aberdeen Assassin added the Commonwealth light-welterweight championship to his lightweight title by defeating the champion of Ghana, Isaac Quartey.

Not in well over a century of professional boxing had any Scot claimed two Commonwealth or Empire belts, but McAllister was the heavy favourite to do so against an opponent making his first appearance outside Africa, and duly delivered with a one-sided points victory over a brave but limited fighter.

McAllister won every round according to two of the three judges and drew only two according to the other.

The new double champion revealed afterwards that he had been injured early on, which explained his seeming reluctance to go hunting a knockout.

"I hurt my right hand in the second round when I hit him on the top of the head," said McAllister. "I had to be careful after that, and in any case I needed the rounds.

"I never got out of second gear, but I can go through the gears when I need to in future."

His manager Tommy Gilmour said he would be seeking a European title fight for McAllister "hopefully in Aberdeen - the atmosphere is amazing".

McAllister claimed recently that he has the best support of any UK fighter, and with the venerable Beach Ballroom shaking as he entered the ring, there was some evidence of that, though a self-confessed fan, First Minister Alex Salmond, could not attend as McAllister had hoped.

Quartey looked fit and muscular, but his record of seven wins, six losses and a draw did not inspire confidence that he could overly trouble McAllister.

The action was almost furtive at first as McAllister did what he said he would do and tried to suss out his opponent, who looked upset when the Scot caught him with a left and then a right, so much so that he resorted to judo to dump McAllister on his back.

Severely warned by referee Steve Gray, Quartey seemed to withdraw into his shell in the second, and McAllister was content to use his superior skills to keep the Ghanaian at bay.

The third was much more explosive as McAllister found his range with the left jab in particular. By the bell the Scot was three rounds up and cruising, and a couple of jarring rights in the fourth finally forced Quartey to try to break out of his fairly one-dimensional approach, only for McAllister to out-think him at jabbing range.

The fifth round saw McAllister in control from the centre of the ring, and by the sixth it was a question of whether he could finish the fight with a stoppage, as Quartey had hardly landed a serious blow.

The seventh was the best round of the contest to that point, Quartey's corner having impressed upon their man that he needed to throw some leather, but when he did so, McAllister's response was to land much the better scoring punches.

McAllister had time to show off in the eighth before totally dominating the ninth and tenth rounds.

Quartey finally connected cleanly in the 11th, but McAllister rather patronisingly acknowledged the blow before seeing out the fight comfortably.

In the chief supporting bout, Gary "The Highlander" Cornish impressed with his willingness to take the fight to African opponent Hastings Rasani.

Standing 6ft 7in tall and weighing a fit 16st 7lb, Cornish is Scotland's new heavyweight hope, and after his first victory over Howard Daley in 2 mins 43 secs in April, he was looking to gain more ring time. Cornish landed with a right hook inside the first ten seconds and then celebrated with an Ali Shuffle. Rasani, much the lighter man at 15st 10lbs, is no mug, however, and the former Zimbabwean champion did the best thing possible and stayed out of range. To no avail: Cornish caught him at the start of the third with a right that opened up a cut above Rasani's left eye, and in the fourth the Scot opened up a much worse cut over his opponent's right eye.

With blood pouring down Rasani's face, his cornerman called it off, and referee Terry O'Connor raised the big Scot's right hand. We'll hear more of The Highlander.

In the first supporting bout, Glasgow's Ryan McNicol defeated journeyman Delroy Spencer of Birmingham on points in an eight round superbantamweight contest. Despite warning McNicol twice for low blows, referee John Keane scored the contest 77-76 to give McNicol his second win in 12 contests.