Farrell Farewell – Rudy Reveals he Nearly Walked Away after Hughes ‘Robbery’
Ruadhan Farrell admits he nearly walked away from boxing in the aftermath of his last Gerard Hughes fight.
‘El Nino’ and ‘Short Fuse’ meet at the SSE Arena on a Michael Conlan undercard in late 2023.
The bout was scored a 57-57 draw much to the disgust of Farrell, his team, and his followers, as well as to the bemusement of some pundits.
The IGB boxer was vocal about his upset post-fight and was emotional when declaring he was robbed of the chance to dedicate a huge win to his terminally ill cousin.
It got to the point where a fighter, who had survived five false starts to turn over, considered leaving the sport.
Speaking to Belfast Live Farrell explained: “That result was really tough to take. A couple of weeks after that I lost my cousin to cancer, and I was dedicating that fight to him.
“I remember Mark ringing me before the fight saying ‘I know you’ve got this’, and then not being able to dedicate the win to him was gutting.
“I was close to packing it all in. I had a couple of bad weeks because I knew I won. But it doesn’t change the draw on my record.
“It doesn’t matter what people say, the draw is there. I know in my head I won, but it is still recorded as a draw.”
Farrell did fight on and has gone on to win titles in Fight of the Year contenders and has become a domestic name in the process.
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He believes coming through that difficulty and his clashes with Connor Kerr in particular have improved him to the point he will be far too good for the Andy Lee trained Hughes on the massive Breaking Point card.
“It has made me stronger and more mature as a person. I have changed. It is all down to the people around me keeping me on the ground,” Farrell said.
“This is a massive card and there is a lot at stake in our fight. The other fights will be exciting too.
“This is an eight-rounder. The last one was a six-rounder, and I feel if I had the two extra rounds the last time then I would have stopped him.”
