Macleod: I’ll be back
ISAAC Macleod has vowed to learn and come back stronger after he was defeated in the semi-final of the Ultimate Boxxer. The Sunderland pugilist was competing in the new competition, which took place on Friday at Manchester Arena, but was knocked out in round one on his second fight of the evening by Tom Young, who went on to be runner-up. Earlier in the evening Macleod, who was seeded number one for the competition similar in set-up to the old Prizefighter concept, beat second favourite and hometown man Andy Kremner on a split decision. In what was deemed the best fight of the quarter-finals by former world champion Pauli Malignaggi, Macleod and Kremner went to war in an entertaining scrap. Two judges scored Isaac a 29-28 winner, overruling one judge who scored the same but in favour of Kremner. There was concerns for the Sunderland man, however, after he received a nasty cut above his right eye. Perhaps he also wasted too much energy in the first fight as well because judges weren’t required in his semi-final Looking to fight on the inside just as he had in the first fight, Macleod was caught by a big straight right on the jaw which wobbled his legs and sent him down. He was back up quickly. Although Macleod tried to fight his way out of trouble, he was then caught by a huge left that sent him down again. He got back to his feet but the referee had seen enough and waved it off.
It was a disappointing end to an evening for the 23-year-old. The day would have also been the birthday of his older brother Luke who passed away at the age of 18. Macleod had earlier dedicated his opening victory to him.
Posting on his Facebook page the next day, Macleod wrote: “I switched off and paid the price after a seven-year unbeaten run. I’ll be back better then ever.”
Macleod relocated to London to become a part of Team Simms and is now trained by Donnell Smith, with Charlie Sims as his manager.
The hope is Simms will get the Sunderland man better opportunities and didn’t take long in getting him an unexpected slot in this competition which saw winner Drew Brown pocket £50,000.
Sims is also best friends with Matchroom head man Eddie Hearn and Macleod was hopeful ahead of this that he’d be able to get a slot on Hearn’s big Newcastle show on June 16.
The card was officially announced this week with five title fights making up the show at the Metro Radio Arena, including Josh Kelly and Lewis Ritson.
Stuart Hall, Anthony Nelson and Simon Valilly are also scheduled for title bouts, while Hearn is hopeful of securing the purse bids to host Glenn Foot’s British title fight. The board have ordered a rematch with Josh Leather for the strap, but don’t be surprised to see Foot on the bill against someone else, with Leather likely to step aside from that one.
This is an exciting show and an exciting opportunity for Newcastle to make itself a regular host of big time boxing.
Tickets are on sale now from the Arena website, Ticketmaster and Stubhub.