Scores of 116-113 and 115-114 twice, were enough to give the Londoner a unanimous decision in a fight that failed to live up to anticipation.
Despite being a 1-9 on favourite at the start of the fight, Small found himself in the trenches battling to retain his title as the fight reached its tense conclusion.
After a scrappy opening couple of rounds, it looked as if Small should have concentrated more on his ring exploits than his entrance, in which he rode in on a scooter and taunted the Wigan fans with a shirt of their recent 9-1 conquerors, Tottenham. Both fighters failed to establish any sort of rhythm in the beginning, as the unorthodox Small frustrated the challenger with his movement. The champion himself struggled though. Wild, whirling right hands and a failure to pin down his opponent cost him in the opening stages.
McDonagh continued to press on in the third, trying to catch Small against the ropes, but his success was limited as the Londoner walked through any shots he landed.
The fourth, fifth and sixth rounds continued in much the same vein with McDonagh winning rounds purely on workrate as Small had only landed ten punches after the half way mark.
However, sensing his predicament and with McDonagh tiring, the champion kicked into gear and began making his speed and movement count. Landing more shots in the eighth and forcing the fight, Small began to claw back some of the points he let so easily slip.
A good left and right in the tenth were enough to win him the round and with McDonagh’s punches lacking the snap of the opening rounds, Small had a foothold in the fight. But McDonagh was not prepared to let the opportunity he so long devoured slip as he had a strong eleventh round but Small’s cleaner and more effective punching were still enough to win him the stanza.
Entering the twelfth and with the scores seemingly level both fighters pushed for the victory. A right hook early on by Small set the course of the round as the champion pushed to retain the titles he won in defeating Matthew Hall back in July.
The raucous Robin Park crowd were disappointed with the outcome, with the majority feeling their man had done enough in the opening half of the fight to snatch the championship belts away.
by Nick Kelly
30/11/2009 22:02:40