In a blockbuster night time for Irish boxing, Pierce O’Leary (15-0) established himself as the subsequent huge hope for Eire, with a fascinating but one-sided victory over ‘Tremendous’ challenger Darragh Foley (22-6-1).
Each fighters appeared decided to placed on a present in entrance of a home-crowd – they usually delivered. After a tentative and illusive first spherical, O’Leary discovered his footing and launched hammering physique pictures that crippled Foley, forcing him to discover a respite in any approach he might; even when it meant wrestling O’Leary to the bottom.
Foley would obtain a warning for ducking too low while O’Leary would additionally obtain one for pushing his head down. Fairly frankly, this was the one second during which O’Leary’s stress was halted, as he would in any other case come ahead and land titanic blows, notably to the physique.
Foley, nonetheless, by no means relented in coronary heart and psychological energy. Notably within the later rounds, he would try and land some correct and sharp punches, however to no avail. O’Leary demonstrated the value of his nickname ‘Huge Bang’, as all of his assaults appeared to take a toll on Foley, who managed to go the space.
With the unanimous choice victory, this makes the fourth defence of the WBC Worldwide Tremendous-Light-weight belt for O’Leary, who will likely be keen to extend the extent of competitors and will definitely be gunning for top-ten expertise.
In the primary occasion of the night time, nonetheless, issues didn’t go to plan for Irishman Conor Quinn (9-1-1), who failed in his bid for the vacant Commonwealth Boxing Council Flyweight title in opposition to ‘King’ Conner Kelsall (12-0-0).
Kelsall would develop in confidence from the opening bell, determining fairly early on that Quinn was struggling to acclimate to his opponent. The 2 children would buzz across the ring, with Kelsall outweighing Quinn in each motion and exercise.
It was domination from Kelsall, who had main success with lengthy combos and motion, while Quinn would battle to hit; typically simply throwing on the gloves of his English foe.
Finally, with a split-decision, the scorecards recommended a battle that was a lot nearer than what spectators had witnessed, regardless of the fitting man incomes the gold.
The light-weight division additionally had a belt up for grabs; the Boxing Union of Eire Celtic Light-weight title, which was efficiently defended by title-holder James McGivern (9-0). His opponent, the Welshman referred to as ‘Brickfists’ Rashid Omar (6-1) was eviscerated by a left to the top, with the bout being waved instantly.
This was a press release efficiency from ‘The Pure’, who will you’ll want to go on to nice issues at British stage, it appears.
Jack Turner (7-0) opened the Belfast Brawl with a difficult efficiency in opposition to 8-21-2 Darwing Martinez. The Nicaraguan journeyman was capable of finish the knockout streak of the promising Liverpudlian, though Turner demonstrated ranges as he maintained consistency throughout the space.
Steven Cairns (8-0) additionally proved that he’s a reputation to observe within the grand scheme of Irish boxing, with ‘The Irish Takeover’ in full power as he would finish the battle in opposition to Brazil’s Jonatas de Oliviera (6-11) in an astounding 56 seconds.
The ‘Posh Boy’ Colm Murphy (12-0) proved that he can tough it out as he scored a closing spherical TKO over Glaswegian featherweight Jack Turner (6-2) to earn the Commonwealth Silver Featherweight title.
Regardless of the decided Turner, the docs merely needed to halt the bout – maybe too late for the liking of many. From early on, Turner confirmed that his impairments made him unable to win.
Lastly, violent younger Cuban Jadier Herrera (15-0) prolonged his knockout ratio additional with an entire destruction of Andres Navarette (11-2) over the course of the one spherical they shared collectively. Lovely Cuban footwork and a killer intuition gained him the bout with ease, as Navarette was caught too off-guard to proceed.
Total, Queensberry will be proud as their all-Irish affair proved to supply a profitable and interesting night time of boxing from Belfast.
