Morecambe's MacMillan makes it three wins out of three

Reece MacMillan completed his first year as a professional by making it a hat-trick of victories.
Reece MacMillan with coach John Donaghy at Coastal ABC.  Picture: Rachel Landsborough (www.lenslady.co.uk)Reece MacMillan with coach John Donaghy at Coastal ABC.  Picture: Rachel Landsborough (www.lenslady.co.uk)
Reece MacMillan with coach John Donaghy at Coastal ABC. Picture: Rachel Landsborough (www.lenslady.co.uk)

The Morecambe welterweight was a four-round points winner against the durable Youssef Al Hamidi in Manchester on Friday night.

The veteran of 114 fights made MacMillan, 20, work for the win as he triumphed 39-38 at the Bowlers Exhibition Centre on a card promoted by manager Kieran Farrell.

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Trainer John Donaghy said: “There’s a couple of things we need to work on, like keeping his right hand up, but his work rate was phenomenal.

“I’ve had lots of positive comments about how much work we must have put in to keep that level up.

“He’s had a stop-start year and chopped and changed trainers due to travelling so it was a brilliant performance all things considered.

“He’s 3-0 so you can’t ask for much more.”

Al Hamidi holds a win over Anthony Crolla from back in 2008 and has taken current world champions Ricky Burns and Lee Selby the distance earlier in his career.

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He made it a tricky night’s work for MacMillan as he continues to work his way into the paid ranks.

“If you’ve had that many fights you know what you’re doing,” said Donaghy.

“He boxes every week and likes to fiddle his way through a fight and stay out of trouble but Reece didn’t let him do that.

“He made him dig in to make sure he wasn’t stopped.”

Corner man and fighter have only been together a short time with Donaghy believing they will only go from strength to strength.

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They have been using Frank Harrington’s Coastal ABC gym on West End Road in Morecambe while Donaghy sets up his own space in Preston.

Having first worked with Farrell in Middleton, former Skerton ABC man MacMillan then went on to put the hard yards in at Johnney Roye’s gym in Preston before linking up with Donaghy.

“I think we work well together,” the trainer said.

“We’ve only been together nine weeks and we’ve changed a hell of a lot already.

“I want to say a big thanks to Frank because we’re a bit homeless at the moment and he’s really helped us out.

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“We’ve had a lot of good comments after Friday night and he’s only going to grow with every fight.

“He’s only a young lad.”

MacMillan is set to return on Kieran Farrell’s next show at the Bowlers Exhibition Centre on Friday, February 10.

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