BOXING: VAUXHALL Motors ABC's Nick MacDonald was in imperious form at London's Ex-Cel Centre on Friday as he captured his second ABA Senior Championship.
The 20-year-old's 54kg title contest against Robert Nelson of the Karmand Centre, Bradford, was stopped in the third round on the outscored 'Murphy' rule.
The ruling comes into force to spare a beleaguered opponent further punishment when he goes 20 points behind, and it is the second time that a rampant MacDonald has won in such fashion in this year's competition.
Coach George Treble, who has worked with Nick for a decade, said: 'The more Nick boxes, the better he gets. He was up against a strong man who is five years his senior. Nelson had a spell out of the sport as he was in prison but he's got 100 bouts under his belt and reached three ABA schoolboy finals.
'In the first round we told Nick to have a look at him and see what he had and, in the second, Nick upped the pace and caught Nelson with loads of back-hand combinations. Nick forced two standing counts and then in the third, with Nelson switching back and forth to unorthodox, he continued to punish him with straight back-hands.'
MacDonald, who as a schoolboy and junior was Wirral's most decorated boxer of all-time, had previously captured the ABA Senior Championships in 2003 but was forced to miss last year's competition through international commitments.
Injuries have dogged him at the time big tournaments have come around in recent years but Treble is convinced that his protégé can reach the very top if he stays healthy.
He said: 'I've always known he was a good kid but he's had terrible bad luck. He had to miss both the World Championships and Olympics with injury and it was probably because we were trying to rush him back.'
MacDonald is back in the ring tomorrow night at the Olympia, Liverpool, on international duty for England in the Four Nations competition.
Vauxhall Motors ABC's Dane Griffiths was beaten by Dave Wharton of Marsh Lane on Monday in the St Aloysius show in Cronton.
