John O’Donnell is a former English and Commonwealth welterweight champion. At the age of 29, he is now looking to make up for lost time.
The above may seem a mixed statement. At 29 O’Donnell (29-2-0) still has plenty of years ahead of him, and should arguably be just reaching his peak. Plus having already held both the prestigious English and Commonwealth titles, accolades most fighters will never achieve, it is perhaps contradictory to suggest that his record doesn’t reflect the talent he possesses.
But O’Donnell is now coming back from a two year absence from the sport spanning July 2013 to May 2015 and his first intention is clear – win the British title.
“Some things happened outside of boxing, so I took a couple of years away from the sport” O’Donnell tells me. “I got back in the ring against (Laszlo) Fazekas and all respect he was a journeyman. I got offered the chance to get on the show at one weeks notice, but I was in shape and jumped at the chance to take the fight. He was durable enough and it was good to get in there.”
It was a low key return for O’Donnell - Fazekas took him the full eight round distance without causing much trouble. With the return in the bag, O’Donnell landed himself a deal with Manager/Promoter Steve Goodwin to help him catch up with lost time. How did the link up come about? “After my return I had a friend who knew Steve. He arranged a meeting between us – it was as simple as that and we signed up together”.
Steve Goodwin with his stable of fighters at Goodwin Promotions have a reputation of being able to land opportunities for their fighters, particularly around the British title scene. That is where O’Donnell has his sights firmly set – and the man in the way is a certain Sam Eggington. O’Donnell hasn’t been quite in his pursuit of the tall Birmingham fighter who is currently in possession of the Lonsdale belt in the welterweight division.
“Him and his trainer on Twitter, they are happy to speak about me but they won’t engage with me. I hear from other people about him and his trainer John Pegg that they are chatting about me – who else can he fight October 17th? Just take the fight!” says the ever blunt O’Donnell. The fight date mentioned is when Eggington is due to make the first defence of his British title won back in July versus undefeated Glenn Foot, as well as his Commonwealth strap. Sky have the date in the diary and confirmed Eggington will fight – it is just an opponent that is lacking. O’Donnell is happy to fill that void.
“People have said how can I deserve the fight when I’ve only had one fight back. It speaks for itself, I have had two years out and straight away when I’ve come back the Board have put me in to an eliminator. Nobody wants to fight me though. If the eliminator comes about with Dale Evans (10-2-2) then he would probably pull out too. Dale Evans – I’ve looked him up, everytime he steps up in class (Larry Ekundayo) he gets beaten. I hear he says he’s going to punch my head in – I guarantee I take him apart. If beating him is the route I have to go to get to Eggington then I will happily do it. People keep saying that I need to have the big fights first, but there’s nobody there – big fights with who?! We have offered the fight to loads of people but they won’t take it – I’m going to have to get myself in a position where Eggington has to fight me.”
The focus is clearly there for O’Donnell, a path set out that he is determined to navigate either directly through or via the eliminator with Evans. This is perhaps a reflection of the lessons that he learned before he took his two years away from the ring. Back in 2011 he suffered a loss to Craig Watson, a fighter who he had previously beaten. The fight was for the British title and it saw O’Donnell struggle with making the weight. “At the time I didn’t know anything about nutrition or eating properly” he tells me. O’Donnell took three attempts to make the 147lbs limit, eventually getting down to the weight. “I got beaten on the scales in that fight, not in the ring Since then I have got a nutritionist and a great strength and conditioning coach. I won’t lie, making the weight is still hard, but I can do it now.”