By Ben Carey
An excellent display of controlled boxing from Colin Lynes saw him end Barry Morrison’s five month reign as British light-welterweight champion in Motherwell on Friday night. The defending Scot had no answer to Lynes’ crisp jab, accurate counters and lateral movement which dampened the enthusiasm of the initially raucous crowd and eventually that of the local favourite who cut a disconsolate figure at the end.
After 12 engaging, if increasingly repetitive rounds, Lynes was awarded a unanimous verdict on the judges scorecards (116-113, 117-111 and 116-112). Motivated by his seriously ill father who was sat at ringside, Colin rose to the occasion magnificently and salvaged a career which looked over after he was stopped by Lenny Daws last year.
Lynes swept the opening two rounds on the jab alone which kept Morrison off balance. The champion upped the tempo in the third however and briefly appeared to have solved the puzzle. Granted Morrison’s wide hooks were mostly blocked by Lynes, but Barry had succeeded in denying the challenger room to work and his attacks were now more purposeful. Morrison’s pace eased in the fourth and fifth but I still awarded him the rounds on my card for some decent body work. Lynes’ jab was still in evidence but he had become a little too reliant on his signature punch and was throwing nothing off the back of it.
After a bright start Lynes’ challenge was in danger of petering out but he raised his game significantly in the sixth and Morrison couldn’t live with him from there on. Whilst Morrison succeeded in pushing Lynes towards the ropes, he was turned and promptly nailed by the Hornchurch man who then moved out of harms way and got straight back on his jab. Bread and butter boxing, superbly executed. By the seventh Barry had appeared to have run out of ideas, he wasn’t throwing enough combinations and was getting caught more frequently as Colin’s confidence grew.
Morrison’s handlers need to study the tape of this fight and work hard on his technique. He was too reliant on throwing left hooks when he needed to be straightening his punches and delivering more right hands. Barry also has a nasty habit of leaping in with left hooks which then leave him hopelessly off balance. As a result he wasn’t able to sustain his attacks and was a sitting target for one of Lynes’ frequent counters. A stoppage never seemed likely for Lynes but a good right hand followed by a left hook forced a fatigued Morrison to give ground in the ninth, his grip on his title loosening with every passing minute.
Morrison, who is a class act out of the ring, gave it one final effort in the 12th and registered with a decent right hand but Lynes never flinched. At the final bell Barry nodded in acknowledgement that he had been outclassed by the better boxer and his more experienced opponent.
Beaten on only three occasions, Colin Lynes was always regarded as a useful domestic operator, his status underlined following his gallant effort against reigning WBC champion Junior Witter two years ago. However his surprise ninth round retirement against Lenny Daws, a fight he took on only a fortnight’s notice, led many to believe his better days were firmly behind him. Now we know otherwise.
Ironically Daws, who lost the British title to Morrison in January, will head the queue of challengers for Lynes’ newly acquired Lonsdale belt along with David Barnes. And with Hatton-Castillo, Witter-Harris, Bami-Mutley and Olusegun-Reid all to look forward too, Britain’s light-welterweights should provide a steady stream of compelling action in the weeks ahead.
