Mooney gives Nico a perfect learning test

Nico Ogbedie...now unbeaten in four. Pic: MSN Images/BCB Promotions

IN professional boxing there are off-the-wall characters, then there is Michael Mooney, a veritable Mad Hatter of the bleeding business.

The veteran of over 120 bouts produced his full repertoire of ring eccentricities on BCB’s Eastside Rooms, Birmingham, show last night.

Ogbedie salutes the crowd after beating Michael Mooney

But the gurning and clowning should not mask the fact the Worcester 39-year-old gave Nico Ogbeide, now unbeaten in four, a very good test.  He provided the perfect tutorial for a Birmingham boxer serving his four round apprenticeship.

Mooney pressured him throughout and won the third. Referee Ryan Churchill’s 39-37 card tallied with mine.

Mooney was larger than life from entering the hall to leaving it. He breezed into the away dressing room, shattering the sombre atmosphere by announcing loudly: “Any one mind if I play some music?”

The ghetto blaster – that may be an outdated phrase – Mooney had with him was the size of a wheelie bin. I left before he plugged in the contraption, but feel sure fellow fighters present were not treated to Brahms.

In the ring, he talked, grinned, but provided aggression. At the end, Mooney posed and pulled faces for the press before being asked politely by the winner – standing patiently in the background – to join him for more traditional post-fight poses.

Ogbedie, at the age of 30, is something of a late arrival on the pro scene. He fought sensibly against Mooney, firing fast jabs and keeping on the move as Michael attempted to cut off the canvas. Lead hand low, Ogbedie (9st 9lbs) kept his shots long, straight and fast.

Mooney (10st 2lbs 2oz) never allowed his opponent to take a breather, had successes and worked the body in the third. But Ogbedie found another gear in the last and let both hands go. Nothing troubled Mooney, but Nico’s fast hands and feet won the round.

“The performance was OK, considering,” Nico said. “I hadn’t been matched until last night. I lost the third, which was annoying – I just got sloppy with the jab.

“I’m 30, I want meaningful fights, I want a Midlands title, but I’ve only done four rounders. It’s about taking it one step at a time.

“I’d like Adam Hamed, that’s the fight I’d like.”