February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Jay Mwamba
Super bantamweight John "The Quiet Man" Lowey put in a subdued effort in his bout with the World Boxing Council’s second ranked Oscar Larios on St. Patrick’s Day, losing a 10-round decision in Albuquerque.
The non-title fight was on the undercard of ex-bantamweight king Johnny Tapia’s sixth-round stoppage of Famosito Gomez.
Back in New York a day after his defeat, Lowey blamed the short notice he got for the match, broadcast nationally on Showtime, for his scrappy performance.
"I trained three weeks and only sparred 16 rounds," the former International Boxing Association bantamweight champion, whose record dropped to 27-3, said. "If I train right for [a] fight, there’s no one at 122 pounds that I can’t beat."
Larios, at 24, 10 years younger than his opponent, was certainly beatable and nearly came a cropper midway through the eighth round when he was badly hurt by an uppercut.
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The Mexican, who was coming off an unsuccessful bid for the WBC championship two months ago, survived Lowey’s assault and came out strongly in the ninth stanza to reassert his control on the proceedings.
It was an uneventful contest until then, with the unspectacular Larios’s rugged aggression and bigger shots earning him most of the rounds.
Despite his opponent’s obvious edge, Lowey got in a few licks when he made an effort to attack, occasionally tagging Larios, now 40-3-1,with a light jab and quick one-twos.
The Belfastman was never in any trouble until a clash of heads opened a gash over his right eye in the 10th and final round. The cut required 15 stitches to close.
"My main objective was to go 10 rounds," said Lowey, who had never gone beyond eight rounds in his previous 29 pro bouts. "I was pacing myself but after 10 rounds I still had some gas left so I was a bit annoyed at myself for not stepping it up in the eighth round."
The 5-foot-6 prizefighter, a teammate’s of Wayne McCullough on the 1988 Irish Olympic squad, believes that he still has some fight left in him and will continue his pursuit for a title shot.
He received a $7,500 purse for last weekend’s bout, which he said would go toward replacing his car, stolen from outside a Belfast gym three weeks ago, on the second day of his training camp for the Larios fight.
O’Malley’s night
Lightweight prospect Martin O’Malley, 16-0 (14 KOs) squares off with seasoned Mexican Luis Lizarrage (30-23-3, 22 KOs) in a scheduled eight-rounder at Michael’s, Eighth Ave. in Glen Burnie, Md., tomorrow night (March 22).
The co-feature pits junior welterweights Manuel Rodrigues (11-1) against Michael Warrick (16-0).
Said O’Malley, after studying a tape of Lizarrage’s impressive fourth-round KO winner over highly rated Jermaine Fields last September:
"He’s a typical Mexican boxer. He caught Fields with a wild right hand so I’ll be looking out for wild right hands."
The 25-year-old O’Malley’s last appearance was an eight-round points victory over former Ghanaian lightweight champion Awel Abdulai. Call (410) 766-7474 for ticket information.