Barrow boxing star Mike McGoldrick may have lost in the final but the Super Middleweight can be proud of his performances at Ultimate Boxxer 7 which took place at the BT Studios in Stratford on Tuesday night.

McGoldrick had been sparring with Diego Costa (not that one!) who was originally in the four man tournament, but when Costa pulled out McGoldrick had just ten days to prepare as he accepted the invitation to replace him.

Shown live on both ITV4 and BT Sports this was a perfect opportunity to put himself in the shop window and in his first fight he certainly did that.

The semi-finals are fought over three rounds with the winners progressing to a final of five rounds on the same evening.

Goldie was drawn up against Liverpool’s Harry Woods who was unbeaten in four fights and is being talked about as a rising star in the pro game. With a 13 year age gap, and 7 wins under his belt Mike hoped the extra experience would see him through.

From the first bell the two boxers held nothing back going toe to toe in the kind of fight you would expect to see between two Mexicans.

Woods may have been taller and had a longer reach but tactically McGoldrick had the perfect game plan, keeping the fighting at close quarters and making it an outright battle. The first round saw the boxers trading hooks and uppercuts in close almost continuously.

Round 2 was more of the same with combinations from both men landing mainly on the gloves, although McGoldrick shaded the round as the shots which hit their target seemed to have more of an impact on Woods.

The last round was an absolute battle, head and body shots from both boxers raining in making it a really tough round to score. Woods was trying everything as the bell closed in, at one point a missed left hook sending him stumbling to the canvas.

So to the scorecards it went, and with so little between the fighters it was anyone’s guess who would progress to the final. When the scores did come through it was delight for the Cumbrian as the judges scored it 29-28, 30-27 and 29-28 to give him the unanimous victory.

McGoldrick now had less than 30 mins before the final, a problem compounded by him facing Zak Chelli, the overwhelming favourite before a punch was thrown. Chelli had fought first, so had more recovery time and his semi final was more one sided and would have certainly taken less out of him than the battle Goldie had just been in. How he would have loved his loyal and noisy army of fans to have been ringside to spur him on, instead they had to settle with taking to social media with their words of encouragement.

It soon became clear that Fulham’s Chelli was going to test McGoldrick’s recovery powers from the off, raining right hands onto his head, finally forcing him to his knee where he received the eight count.

McGoldrick couldn’t get into his stride at all and it almost seemed inevitable when he once again was forced to the canvas in the early stages of round 2. A body shot almost straight from the restart sent him to the floor again, and although beating the count the referee had seen enough and called a halt to proceedings, and in doing so giving Goldie his first taste of defeat.

There was so much to take from the night though. Ringside pundits were all in agreement that the semi-final was easily the fight of the night and that both boxers should be able to use it as a springboard to bigger fights in the future. Coming in at late notice and showing great ring craftsmanship to thwart Woods’s plan to keep the fight at long range couldn’t fail to impress.

Mike has great support in the area and in these tough times it is amazing to see local firms back him with sponsorship.

Cumbria Strength & Conditioning, James Henry Tyson, Furness Tiles & Flooring, DS Fitness, The Unit Body, Goldbet Racing, Subplot Records, Sian May Massage, NC Meats, Flash Electrical Company and Lakes UPVC and Glazing all make it possible for Mike to continue with his dream.