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McBride Gets Irish Up, Shaheed Down
by Peter Mooney (March 18, 2003)
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BOSTON, March 17 — On St. Patrick's Day night at the Roxy in Boston, heavyweight Kevin Mcbride of Ireland restored order and ended a wild party by stopping Najee Shaheed who was unable to answer the bell for the eighth round. A strong favorite, McBride (29-4-1, 24 KOs) gave his Irish fans the jitters with a slow start, but his body attack wore down Shaheed.
"He was a southpaw and it was a twelve round fight," McBride said. "So I just wanted to take my time."
The fight was scheduled for twelve rounds because McBride holds the IBC Americas Heavyweight title. For the first five rounds, McBride out punched Shaheed (18-5-2, 8 KOs), but he also seemed to be tiring quickly. Perhaps sensing or anticipating McBride's fatigue, the light-punching challenger boxed and moved, waiting for his opportunity.
Shaheed, whose record includes losses to major heavyweight contenders Wladimir Klitschko and Henry Akinwande, made his move in the sixth round and soon found he could not retrace his footsteps. McBride welcomed him into his kitchen and, acting with Irish hospitality, would not take no for an answer.
"Najee moves his head real well," McBride's trainer Goody Petronelli said. "So I told Kevin to work the body, which he did. That tired Najee quite a bit, those body shots, so I knew eventually he'd (McBride) catch up with him."
Halfway into round six, a barrage of punches forced Shaheed to take a knee; the referee ruled the occasion a slip, but it was clear Shaheed went down of his own volition.
In the seventh round, Shaheed refused to resort to boxing and he landed a good left hook that momentarily startled McBride. Shaheed isn't a big puncher, however, and McBride turned the tide and beat his opponent into submission by the end of the round.
"He threw a few shots that got into me," McBride said. "But I don't mind taking a few to get him in range because he wasn't that powerful."
Petronelli said that McBride's next fight would be a "step up."
In addition to mentioning Lawrence Clay-Bey as a speculative opponent for the next fight, Petronelli considers a future fight with Mike Tyson or John Ruiz to be a realistic possibility.
The co-feature between junior welterweights Jimmy LeBlanc and Kevin Watts--both of South Boston--turned out to be the most exciting fight of the evening--as well as the most controversial. LeBlanc dominated the first half of the ten-round bout with ring generalship and accurate punching. In the fourth round, he landed an overhand right that knocked the mouthpiece out of the Watts and forced a standing eight count.
But Watts continued to come forward. Despite being outclassed, he began to gain the upper hand with sheer determination and LeBlanc seemed as surprised as everyone at ringside. Still, most likely LeBlanc held a sizable lead on the scorecards when he was cut over the right eye in the eighth round. It was ruled that the cut came from a punch, although
LeBlanc vehemently disagreed and the size of the cut (large and deep) seemed to validate his objection. Consequently, Watts was awarded with a TKO victory at :16 of the eighth round.
On the undercard, middleweight William Gibbs, otherwise known as the cousin of Bernard Hopkins, continued his quest to make a name for himself. The rising prospect enhanced his undefeated record by knocking out David Hadden in the sixth and final round. Gibbs (12-0, 10 KOs) started slowly, as he seemed to have trouble with Hadden's southpaw stance. But Gibbs absorbed a few big shots from Hadden without any effects and he scored the knockout with a devastating left hook to the body that left Hadden off his feet for several minutes.
In other fights, Martin Moore of Ireland won an impressive unanimous decision over always game Ed McAloney (60-54, all three cards) and James Clancy TKO'd 46-year-old Dan Veskovic in a joke of a heavyweight fight.
Middleweight Ian Gardner (9-1, 5 KOs) of Brockton, Massachusetts knocked around Joe Lorenzi in the first bout of night. After dropping Lorenzi twice with left hooks to the body in the second round, Gardner used the same punch to whack his opponent on the forehead and finish him in the third round (:34).
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