THRILLS & SPILLS AS IRISH PROSPECTS TAKEOVER YORK HALL
Updated: Jul 24, 2019
Mickey Helliett’s Hellraiser Boxing returned to London’s York Hall on Saturday night with plenty of prospects on display and a welcomed invasion of Irish fighters stacking the bill.
Rusqana Begum – Ivanka Ivanova – Flyweight
Early on in the evening, David Haye signee Rusqana Begum lost out to Bulgarian competitor Ivanka Ivanova over 4 rounds in a rematch from 2018 which ended in a draw.
Begum who has received wide media attention as Kickboxing world champion as well as captain of the British Muay Thai Team.
However despite a huge amount of success in other combat sports, her professional Boxing career mustn’t be going as expected as her current record stands as 0-1-1.
In all fairness to Begum, her right eye had completely glazed over at the end of the first round, prompting a discussion over whether the fight should continue or not.
Continue it did, and Ivanova showed her professional experience, doing enough to win pretty much every round of the contest.
Germaine Brown – Harry Matthews – Super-Middleweight
Londoner Germaine Brown impressed in an educated performance against the tough Harry Matthews to go 6-0.
Matthews who has rarely ever been stopped and has been the distance with the likes of Kody Davies & Nick Blackwell for the English title was stopped in emphatic fashion by Brown who ironically was scoring the first KO victory of his professional career.
6 fights in and having not lost a round yet, Brown & his team may choose to take a step-up sooner rather than later.
Kingsley Egbunike – Kristaps Zulgis – Super-Welterweight
Another young fighter on the bill who stretched his undefeated record whilst scoring the first KO of his career.
Also residing in London, Egbunike took on Zulgis originally from Latvia who hasn’t been stopped in over 4 years.
‘Obi’ produced a brutal stoppage in what was his first scheduled 6 rounder, will be next out in his 4th fight of 2019 with more stoppages rather than points wins expected.
Kevin Cronin – Jevgenijs Andrejevs – Light-Heavyweight
Irishman Kevin Cronin got through tricky journeyman Andrejevs in a 4 round contest in his UK debut.
Moving to 2-0 the Light-Heavyweight started aggressively against the Latvian who was trying his hardest to stop Cronin gaining any sort of momentum.
However, Cronin was able to knock Andrejevs down in the 3rd round but wasn’t able to end the fight prematurely as the experienced journeyman held on to see the final bell.
Eric Donovan – Moises Mojica – Featherweight
Satisfying the Irish contingent in attendance, Eric Donovan moved to 10-0 after recently winning the Irish Featherweight Title in March.
Also making his UK debut, Cronin was able to get the stoppage against Nicaraguan born fighter Moises Mojica.
Turning 34 next month, the Irishman needs to make a decision on whether to defend his Irish title or to move onto more prestigious honours before time catches up with him.
Connor Marsden vs Lester Cantillano – Lightweight
To finish off the evening, Conor Marsden Represented Earlsfield Boxing Club in his 2nd professional contest.
Winning his debut, via a 1st round KO, Marsden won via a measured performance, winning every round against a limited opponent.
Marsden who is freakishly tall for a lightweight managed his composure well throughout the fight and may look to fight a fellow tall lightweight at some point to receive more of a test as he develops as a professional.
Also making up the rest of the card were victories for Rohan Date, Rylan Charlton, Paul Brown, Simon Corcoran, Tashan Dwyer, Serge Ambomo and Alex Ananivi.