By Jay Mwamba
Lightweight Martin O’Malley shook off the rust from an eight-month layoff to outpoint Rudolfo Lunsford over eight grueling rounds at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Washington, last Saturday.
Last seen dropping a TKO decision to former Olympic bronze-medalist Leonard Dorin, who went on to capture the World Boxing Association crown early this year, O’Malley returned with a vengeance to improve his record to 19-1 (14 KOs).
“This guy, he was tough,” said O’Malley. “I can definitely see why he extended everyone the distance.”
The 26-year-old from Edmonds, Wash, via County Wicklow, used his best shot, the left hook to the ribs, in an attempt to chop down Lunsford in the early rounds, and then dominated his man during several fierce exchanges.
Lunsford, whose record fell to 11-18-2, fought back bravely, but by the seventh round, the barrage of hooks, uppercuts and clubbing rights from his younger foe had taken their toll.
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He shuffled to O’Malley’s corner at the end of the round and sat down disoriented on the stool. There O’Malley handler Greg Haugen, the ex-world lightweight champion told him, that he was in the wrong corner.
“I had him ready to go a couple of times,” O’Malley said. “If I’d been fighting more often I’d have been sharper.”
O’Malley still tried to put Lunsford away in the final stanza with a final flurry. Lunsford, however, kept on ticking and drew blood, albeit with an inadvertent head butt, from a nick above O’Malley’s left eyebrow.
All three judges easily scored the fight for the Irish-American by 79-73, 80-72, and 80-72 margins.
“It was a good fight and I was in good shape, although my timing was off. Realistically, eight rounds is probably what I needed at this time,” observed O’Malley, who was trained for the fight by his father, Martin, Sr.
His immediate goal is to stay busy and hopefully get a crack at either the NABF or NABA lightweight title. He is ranked eighth by the latter.
Should he win one of the two continental championships, O’Malley would be put in line for a rematch with Romanian-born Dorin, who is scheduled to defend his crown against the man he dethroned, Raul Balbi, in a WBA ordered rematch on either May 31 or June 1, in Bucharest, Romania.
This follows the narrow margin of Dorin’s split decision victory last January.