Skip to content

Red Deer boxer Cam O’Connell hopes for title shot in New Year after latest win

“It was a rough fight, he was pressuring, holding and elbowing, headbutting and low-blowing. It was a rough fight for both of us”

What Cam O’Connell is doing in the boxing ring is more than just the luck of the Irish.

The Red Deer product, nicknamed “Irish,” won his 12th straight decision in Edmonton on Friday to remain undefeated in his career. With the win, O’Connell improved to 14-0-1 with 9 KOs. The fight was another dominant performance for the 27-year-old, this time dismantling Juan Bedolla Orozco (14-5-2).

The judges scored the fight overwhelmingly in O’Connell’s favour, with two of the three judges giving him wins in six of the eight rounds and the other giving him seven of eight, however, he didn’t see it that way in the ring.

“It was a rough fight, he was pressuring, holding and elbowing, headbutting and low-blowing. It was a rough fight for both of us,” said O’Connell.

“After watching the fight, I can see how they scored it and why they scored it that way. I was more technical, I hit him with more punches. Clean blows that everyone could see and harder blows for sure.”

O’Connell said the fight was more of a brawling style than he anticipated, which led to some adjustments early on.

“They took everything away that I usually do away from me, so I had to fight a different fight than I’m used to. I had to get rough with him. I’m happy that I was able to adapt and overcome what they were trying to do,” he said.

“Technically, no I wasn’t too happy. I like to be a little more pretty and show people my actual skills, not just roughing people up and fighting people, so that broke away from our game plan.”

While O’Connell neared a fourth straight knockout, he said Orozco battled through the final rounds to finish the fight.

“The second the bell rang, he had his hands up and he was right in close, so I knew it was going to be a standoff war,” he said.

“I wasn’t thinking first, second or third or sixth round knockout. But I was hoping for a seventh or eighth round stoppage. In the seventh round I hit him with a body shot, I knew he was done I just couldn’t get him down.”

Following the fight, the burgeoning lightweight superstar called out his potential opponents for his next bout, hoping to square off with either Steve Wilcox of Hamilton, Ont. and Dierry Jean of Montreal, Que.

According to the Canadian Professional Boxing Council, O’Connell is ranked second in the lightweight division.

As for his progress as into a legit Canadian title contender, O’Connell is pleased with how the year has progressed.

“I was hoping for a title by the end of the year, but i’m still undefeated and I’m moving up in the rankings so I couldn’t ask for a better year,” he said.

Plans are still in the works for his next fight, but O’Connell said he will definitely be back in the ring in Edmonton in March of 2017.

byron.hackett@www.reddeeradvocate.com