IRISH BOXING NEWS ROUND UP
It was a busy weekend for Irish fighters with mixed fortunes. Here’s a recap of some of the action and latest news.
Irish light-middleweight champion Craig The Iron O'Brien 9-1 has signed a major promotional deal with Murphy's Boxing . The Boston based outfit also have Irish fighters Spike O’Sullivan, Niall Kennedy and Ray Moylette on their books. The talented Dubliner is expected to make his debut this month on a Boston show.
Carl ‘The Cobra’ McDonald 5-3 stepped in at late notice to take on Scotland’s Iain Butcher 19-4 on Saturday on the MTK Glasgow show. McDonald put on a great display and even dropped Butcher in the opening round. Butcher battled back into the fight with good pressure and eventually won a controversial points decision 58-56. This writer had McDonald winning 57-56 in a close, hard-fought battle. One I wouldn’t mind seeing again, possibly for a Celtic title.
Donegal’s Jason Quigley 16-0 (12 ko’s) finally made his UK debut on the Matchroom show in London. The Golden Boy promoted middleweight wasted little time in taking care of Mathias Eklund. Quigley applied the pressure with crushing body shots to the ribs of Eklund, and pounced when the opportunity arose with Eklund visibly shaken in the second round. A follow-up flurry forced the referee to wave off the contest in round 2. Quigley stated afterwards that he wants to stay active as he aims for a world title shot in 2019
Dubliner Lynn Harvey-2(4 ko’s) bravely fell short in her bid for European title glory. Harvey travelled to Madrid to take on Spain’s Catalina Diaz 5-2 for the vacant European minimumweight title. Harvey took the fight to Diaz with clever pressure off a nice jab. Diaz fought her way into the fight with looping right hands and snapping flurries, eventually leading her to drop Harvey in round 3 with a thudding right hook. The end then came in round 5 after a barrage of unanswered shots landed on the brave Harvey forcing the fight to be waved off.
Hard-hitting super-middleweight Vladimir Belujsky 6-2-1 (6 ko’s) almost caused an upset on the MTK Glasgow show as he had former commonwealth champion David Brophy 22-2-1 in all kinds of trouble and badly rocked in the third but Belujsky couldn’t finish the job. Brophy came back into the contest and controlled the fight in the last 2 rounds to see out a flattering points win 59-55.
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