By Sean McDaniel: After losing his last four fights, Big John McDermott (26-7, 17 KO’s) looked incredibly happy to be facing the inexperienced knockout artist John McDermott TKO 1 Larry Olubamiwo (10-2, 9 KO’s) on Saturday night at the York Hall, Bethnal Green, London. McDermott, 30, simply overpowered Olubamiwo with short power shots, knocking him down two times before referee Jeff Hinds finally halted the fight at 1:15 of the 1st round.

The 32-year-old Olubamiwo made a big mistake of coming forward in the opening round trying to trade with McDermott. Olubamiwo quickly discovered that he didn’t have the skills to go to war with McDermott, as he was staggered by a big left hook and then further hurt with a right hand that caused Olubamiwo to back up on shaky legs to the corner. McDermott then followed him there and opened up with a flurry of punches that ended with a right hand from McDermott that sent Olubamiwo to the canvas.

After getting up, Olubamiwo continued to try and fight but was knocked down again by a hard right hand. After Olubamiwo to his feet he looked unsteady. The referee then decided he’d had enough and halted the fight at that moment rather than allowing McDermott to finish off the badly hurt Olubamiwo. It wasn’t that Olubamiwo didn’t have good power in this fight, but his defense was simply too poor for him to block the shots that the faster McDermott was nailing him with. You got to be able to protect yourself if you want to beat a fighter like McDermott. Olubamiwo didn’t have clue on in how to defend himself.

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Unbeaten light welterweight prospect Frankie Gavin (9-0, 7 KO’s) took out 32-year-old Michael Lomax (17-4-1, 2 KO’s) in a 7th round TKO. The fight was halted in the 7th round with the badly fatigured Lomax on the ropes taking punishment. It was a mostly one-sided fight, but one in which Gavin took a lot of head shots from Lomax. To be sure, Gavin won all the rounds, but he lacked power, hand speed and defensive ability.

I came away from the fight more disappointed than impressed with his performance as I still remember how easily Kell Brook handled Lomax in a 3rd round TKO in July 2009. Bradley Pryce also did a nice job on him as well. Somehow Gavin looks to be missing a few important items that I suspect will keep him from ever winning a major world title. He’s good enough to be a domestic level champion but that’s all I can see from him.

In other action on the fight card:

Bradley Skeete UD 4 Johnny Greaves