Singh shows warrior courage in title loss

Callum Singh…tasted defeat for first time in Glasgow thriller

HIS unbeaten record may have gone, but the courage Callum Singh showed on Saturday night will live long in the memory of those who witnessed the title thriller with Lennon Mulligan.

Only Callum’s sheer will to win saw him survive a heavy first round knockdown and wade back into the fray. In the end a sickening, sixth round left hook to the body took the last reserves of stamina and grit from the Coventry fighter and ended his Commonwealth silver bantamweight title bid.

It’s a cliché, but the 23-year-old went out on his shield.

As trainer Brendan Norman said: “What he did was something only one or two per cent of the world’s population can do. Any normal person would not have carried on after that first knockdown – I couldn’t.

“They booed him into the ring and cheered him out of it. That says it all. Three or four of Mulligan’s supporters came in the changing room afterwards and said, ‘well done’. We’re all proud of him.”

On paper, it looked a difficult assignment for Singh – a long trip to Glasgow’s Double Tree Hilton Hotel to face an unbeaten big hitter in his home city.

In the ring, Mulligan ultimately proved too much for the prospect. But he had to battle hard to subdue a fighter who simply refused to submit.

Before facing the Scot, Callum had peeled off seven straight wins and beaten Midlands champ Sean Bruce.

Mulligan, a former fine amateur now 7-0 as a pro, simply carried too much firepower for Callum.

For whatever reason, Singh, usually a precise counter-puncher, chose to fight toe-to-toe with Mulligan from the first bell – and paid the price.

He was dropped by a blur of punches, up at six and in serious trouble. The end appeared imminent, yet each time Mulligan seemed poised to overpower his stubborn opponent, Singh found the strength to rally.

Callum finally unravelled in the sixth, the referee waving it off as he hauled himself off the canvas following that blistering body shot. Brendan admitted: “If the ref hadn’t stopped it, we would’ve thrown in the towel.” Singh wanted to carry on.

Of his performance in defeat, Norman said: “I didn’t think he could do that, you don’t get asked those questions in the amateurs. In the first he was gone – Callum couldn’t get any power in his shots because his legs were gone.

“Yet he won the fifth round, he gave his all in that round.

“It was his character that kept him in there. He just kept showing enough and showing Lennon it wasn’t all over.

“We’re proud of him, but you’ve also got to ask, ‘why did you start like that?’ He did it all wrong in the first round – I think he wanted to shut the fans up.”

“Callum will come again,” Norman vowed. “At the lower weights, there is always a way back after a loss. He’ll have a rest, then we’ll get him a win hopefully on a Coventry show.”