BIRMINGHAM, England – Peter McGrail edged past late-replacement opponent Ionut Baluta to winning a majority decision at the BP pulse Live.
Romania’s Baluta had only been given three weeks' notice after McGrail’s original opponent Shabaz Masood withdrew threw injury. Baluta comes to fight – he is so often called upon to test Britain's junior featherweights – and he did so again.
The 31-year-old Baluta, who holds wins over two of McGrail’s stablemates at the Everton Red Triangle, had teased McGrail in the build-up to their fight that he was coming for the hat-trick. McGrail had been vocal about how he was going to do what his gymmates couldn’t and stop Baluta, but he was pushed all the way.
McGrail, 12-1 (6 KOs), started the first round in typical style, swiveling from left to right and sinking in a jab to the body of Baluta. The Romanian could not match McGrail for skill but was not deterred and came steaming in wildly, landing hard shots to the arms of McGrail. Baluta, in typical fashion, pressed on, and he tagged McGrail with a lunging right hand in the second. McGrail remained composed and landed a left hand of his own before the round came to a close, but he sensed that a hard night was ahead.
Baluta came out for the fourth aggressively and instantly landed a flurry of shots, forcing McGrail to cover up. McGrail, 29, was not deterred by Baluta’s aggression, and he landed a nice left hand when Baluta came in to land another of his wild shots.
McGrail started to show his class in the fifth and it seemed as though Baluta, perhaps because of his late notice, was beginning to fade. McGrail whipped in a lead right hand into the body that forced Baluta to retreat to the ropes. McGrail then planted a hard left hand on to the chin of Baluta that knocked his gumshield out.
Baluta pushed it back in with his glove and waved McGrail on as he came in to land another hard shot. Baluta fought back well in the sixth and opened a cut below McGrail’s right eye. He was forced into the corners by the fast feet of McGrail, but came bursting out, throwing wild shots, as his back touched the ropes.
The pace of their fight started to drop in the seventh and Baluta gritted through and sunk in a shot to McGrail’s body. McGrail responded well, though, and upped the pace in eighth. He skipped in with his feet and landed a sharp left hand that pushed Baluta back into the ropes.
McGrail continued his dominance in the ninth, pushing Baluta into each corner and unloading his left hand to the head and body. Still Baluta, undoubtedly feeling the pace, was not deterred and he finished the session swinging with aggression.
As the 10th and final round began Baluta sucked up what little energy he had left and came out firing. McGrail still looked in control, but Baluta still had his moments, firing in shots that tagged McGrail.
McGrail thought he had Baluta down twice, but both incidents were ruled a slip by the referee Steve Gray. Both were confident that they had done enough at the sound of the final bell. At first McGrail’s corner were laughing at Baluta celebrating on the top rope, but their smiles quickly became frowns when the first score of 95-95 was read out. They seemed relieved to hear that the next two scores of 97-93 were in favour of their man and so, too, did McGrail. Baluta was angry at the decision, but fell to 17-6-1 (3 KOs) with the defeat.
After everyone had left the ring, Eddie Hearn and McGrail seemed to have a conversation at ringside about his performance. The promoter did not appear impressed with McGrail’s showing.