February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Jay Mwamba
Belfastman John Lowey, with fellow 1988 Olympian Wayne McCullough on his mind, made a successful return to the ring after a two-year hiatus, outpointing Joe Lafontant over six rounds at Philadelphia’s famed Blue Horizon on Friday.
Lowey dominated Lafontant throughout the bout, wobbling him with a left hook toward the end of the second round, in his first ring appearance since a TKO loss to World Boxing Council (WBC) super bantamweight champion Erik Morales in Mexico two years ago.
"It was a good test for me after two years. To get back and get six rounds is good," Lowey said after improving his professional record to 28-2 (19 KOs).
"John looked good," said Martin Somers of Fianna United, the management group handling the Chicago-based Lowey’s career. "He fought a durable guy who went six rounds with Arturo Gatti."
The win kept Lowey on track for a fight Somers and his Fianna United partner Tom Moran think would be a block-buster for Irish fans in the United States: against McCullough.
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"It would be interesting," Somers noted. "They’re both at the same and they’re the two most prominent Irish fighters in this country in the last five or 10 years."
Somers added that Moran, a Philadelphia filmmaker, was actively pursuing the fight. He gave no timetable or site.
In the meantime, the 33 year-old Lowey, a former IBO World Super Bantamweight Champion, will keep busy. "We hope to get him another fight on the East Coast before Christmas," said Somers.
Lowey was forced to sit out two years after the Morales fight while his hands, both of which he broke in the ring against the young Mexican, healed.
"I broke my right knuckle in the sixth round and couldn’t throw the right hand which Morales was open for," Lowey recounted.
He hurt his left hand in the next round and retired by his corner in the eighth stanza.
Asked to comment on Morales’ grueling points victory over McCullough in Detroit on Oct. 22, Lowey, whose ring moniker is "The Quiet Man" offered a terse: "It was predictable."