A CHAMPION boxer was jailed after attacking a man at a New Year’s Eve party in a pub.
Nick McDonald is England’s most decorated amateur boxer and competed in the Commonwealth Games alongside Olympics stars James Degale and David Price.
But yesterday the 25-year-old was sent to prison for a year after he felled a man with a single punch at the party at the Coach and Horses pub in Wirral.
His victim smacked his head on a bar rail and was knocked out for several minutes after the attack at 3am on January 1.
Liverpool crown court heard he broke his collar bone and later needed several stitches to heal the gash on his head.
CCTV at the pub in Hoylake Road, Moreton, showed McDonald’s unsuspecting victim approach the bar to rejoin his friends after visiting the toilet.
McDonald, of Corwen Close, Moreton, went towards him and struck him from behind, hitting the right side of his face.
The court heard the victim had no idea who had hit him.
He later said he saw McDonald in the pub earlier but had not come into contact with him.
Paul Wood, mitigating, told the court McDonald remembered nothing of the attack.
But he said the boxer had now realised he could not handle his drink.
The court heard McDonald has previous convictions for assault and drunk and disorderly.
Mr Wood said: “He admitted to me that he does not drink often, but when he does he can’t handle it. He’s realised he needs to stop drinking altogether.”
McDonald won a total of 12 national titles before turning professional in 2006. But he suffered a shock defeat and was forced to return to amateur boxing on doctors’ advice after being badly cut during his debut.
He relaunched his professional career last year and won his first fight less than a month before the pub attack.
McDonald, wearing a dark suit and pale pink tie, admitted causing grievous bodily harm.
Judge Robert Warnock told him it was a “disgraceful incident” and jailed him for 12 months.
