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The time has come to find out how good Dennis McCann is.
In 14 previous fights, all wins, eight before, McCann has never been through what Ionut Baluta will surely put him through at York Hall on Friday night (August 19). The super bantamweights face off in 12 rounds in front of the TNT Sports cameras.
A 22-year-old left-footer from Maidstone, never more than eight years old, McCann faces a hardened professional known for his drive and ability to score upsets, such as the points win over Liverpool puncher Andrew Cain (10- 0) at Telford in March.
Down twice in the first and trailing by two cards after the eight, Baluta edged out Cain in a disputed split-point vote by dropping him in the ninth and landing some heavy shots in the last minute.
Alan Smith, McCann’s trainer, says that immediately after that fight he asked manager Francis Warren to do McCann-Smith.
Trust Cain who almost beat Baluta despite having a hand injury, and what he’s seen when McCann and the Romanian shared a ring at his iBox Gym in Bromley.
Smith says they’ve practiced plenty of rounds and believes in the saying, ‘Styles make the fights.’
“Every time (Baluta) lost it was against a boxer,” Smith told BN. “Don’t stand in front of him. He beat Cain, but if Cain hadn’t hurt his hand, he might have lost.”
McCann put in the best performance of his career last time around, knocking out Joe Ham for the vacant Commonwealth title in eight rounds last November, but still, there was possibly a fight or two between Ham and Baluta.
Baluta, 16-4 (3) is still fresh, still full of fight. In fact, he has changed trainers since he beat Cain. The 29-year-old settled at Watford with Josh Burnham and then Arron Woodcock, but joined Albert Ayrapetyan in Marbella.
Beaten by Sergio Martinez and David Lemieux in his professional career 20-4, Ayrapetyan is arguably best known for working with the colorful Irishman Jono Carroll.
Ayrapetyan is known for commanding fighters and Baluta is tough and wild and keeps coming back. That style has led Baluta to upset wins over TJ Doheny, Brad Foster and Cain, and you have to question the thinking behind his trade? Perhaps Baluta realizes that he needs to improve after sharing the ring with McCann in sparring. He maybe he wasn’t very happy with his performance against Cain.
Liam Davies, the British and European champion who beat Baluta and is touted as a future opponent for McCann, heard bout stories and said: “McCann was probably 10.5 stone when they fought and Baluta was 9 stone.
“McCann could get over it, but he will be asked questions. It’s not a massive ring, it’s an attractive venue and Baluta will keep coming back.”
Baluta arguably clinched the fight from Cain in the last 45 seconds of their 10-round bout, having dragged himself back into the fight by outpointing the Liverpudlian.
Baluta doesn’t do much clean work, but it’s hard to put him off. Davies must have thought he had it under control as he outmaneuvered and sliced through, but Baluta would come back slamming.
Does McCann have the maturity and tools to deal with Baluta at this stage in his career? The way he shifted up and down gears against Ham suggests he will and McCann appears well prepared for the championship distance.
Confident as ever, McCann predicts that he will be the first to stop Baluta. However, we are looking for him to use his feet and hit to score points.
In main support, Scottish southpaw Nathaniel Collins, a recent addition to the Queensberry stable, makes his first defense of the British featherweight title against Birmingham’s Raza Hamza (see next page).
In 10 rounds expect 6-0 Raven Chapman (Wycombe) to go through the gears against Brazilian super bantamweight Lila Furtado (9-0) at 126lbs to win clearly on points and Southampton boxer Ryan Garner (13 -0) can overwhelm Spanish featherweight champion Juan Jesús Antúnez (12-1) in the second half.
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