Callum Walsh Dublin Show – LIVE UNDERCARD UPDATES

Big-time boxing is back in Dublin for the first time in 2024.

Callum Walsh takes on tough Pole Przemyslaw Runowski in the main event later tonight but there is plenty of Irish action beforehand including a duo of domestic dust-ups.

BUI Celtic titles are on the line as Emmet Brennan takes on Kevin Cronin in a Dublin v Kerry clash for the super middleweight belt while there is an intriguing crossroads collision between Limerick prospect Edward Donovan and local hero Craig O’Brien.

Add to this big Thomas Carty, the pro debut of Gareth Dowling, and big-punching Shauna O’Keeffe (plus an amateur bout for Ella Thompson) all equals a bumper Friday night of fights.

Irish-Boxing.com are ringside and will be providing on-the-bell reports from each undercard bout below.

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Fight# 5 – Emmet Brennan v Kevin Cronin – 8 Rounds Super Middleweight
Vacant BUI Celtic Super Middleweight Title
Emmet Brennan weathered an early storm – no, hurricane – to claim the BUI Celtic super middleweight title in the chief Irish support of the Callum Walsh homecoming.

The Dubliner edged Kerry’s Kevin Cronin on a split-decision in a ferocious war, the cleaner work of the Olympian proving the difference although opinion was split at the 3Arena.

Brennan had claimed the light heavyweight version of the belt at the same venue last year, stopping Cronin’s nemesis Jamie Morrissey late on and doubled his silverware here.

Cronin had been distraught to lose and draw to Morrissey in 2023 and it was heartbreak again despite a mammoth effort.

There were good shots from both in the opening round, with Cronin starting particularly fast but a snappy left hook from Brennan stiffened his legs momentarily.

After trading hooks at the start of the second, Brennan backed Cronin up with a right hand but ‘The Kingdom Warrior’ continued to march forward throwing bunches of punches. With the fight moving to the ropes, both landed big shots as the furious pace refused to relent.

Brennan’s jab was effective throughout but Cronin appeared undeterred, grinning as he lashed leather at the home favourite who looked in need of an early second wind.

Cronin, maybe sensing an opportunity, started the fourth fast but Brennan rode out the storm and blew back hard, landing sharp, accurate shots of his own as the Kerry visitor slowed in the second half of the stanza.

Forehead to forehead, the pair took turns to unload shots in the fifth, both looking tired but Brennan with the slightly better quality work. Indeed, Brennan had appeared to have wrestled his way on top by the sixth round but volleys of shots from the brave Cronin kept him honest.

The accuracy of the Dubliner’s shots were telling a tale on the face of Cronin who, to his absolute credit, rolled forward continuously and finished the penultimate round well.

With the atmosphere crescendoing once again at the start of the final three minutes, the pair responded by going toe-to-toe once again. Cronin enjoyed early success before Brennan bit back with short sharp hooks.

Going to the scorecards, both boxers believed they had won but it was Brennan who got the nod on a 78-74, 78-75, 75-77 split verdict.

The close win sees Brennan improve to 4(1)-0 while the game Cronin drops to 8(4)-2(0)-1 following more domestic disappointment.

Fight #4 – Thomas Carty v Jonathan Exequiel Vergara – 8 Rounds Heavyweight
Thomas Carty kept his KO streak going tonight at the 3Arena.

The Point Depot’s most frequent fighter, southpaw Carty blasted away Argentinian Jonathan Exequiel Vergara in two rounds to continue his rise.

After a quiet first round – one Carty left hand aside – the Dubliner began to pick things in the second and the fight swung in the blink of an eye. A rib-breaking left hand to the body put Vergara down painfully and the South American barely beat the count. Slumping to the canvas twice afterwards as Carty rushed in, the visitor was put down for real again with a straight to the body and then once again to finish proceedings.

The quickfire win sees Carty improve to 9(8)-0, while the battered Vergara falls to 6(3)-2(1).

Fight #3 – Craig O’Brien v Edward Donovan – 8 Rounds Light Middleweight
Vacant BUI Celtic Light Middleweight Title
Craig O’Brien was at one stage touted to face Callum Walsh in the main event before being turned down by the WBC but the Dubliner left the 3Arena with a belt tonight.

10 years the elder but with championships experience, the Inner City favourite was too cute for Edward Donovan, taking a six-round technical-decision win to re-claim the BUI Celtic light middleweight title.

Former European Junior champion Donovan couldn’t figure out Donovan and, following a cut, the bout was waved off after six completed rounds and he found himself on the wrong end of a split decision.

Always ebbing and flowing, O’Brien began to score well with single shot raids in the second following a cagey opener but Donovan responded with a particularly nice left hook in the closing minute.

Messy in the third, ‘The Iron’ appeared to be frustrating (or, some might say, old-manning) Donovan who grew wilder as we approached halfway.

Things got testy in the fifth when a borderline shot to the back of the head – O’Brien had pivoted his body – enraged coach Packie Collins, causing a brief pause, but the Celtic Warriors man fought back well with some of his cleanest work of the fight.

Donovan, cut from one of the many, many clashes of heads in the clinch, settled things down in the sixth, but the stream of blood – coming from the eyelid – forced a doctor’s inspection. Seemingly invigorated, O’Brien attacked from the restart and had Donovan wobbled for a split second at the close of the round.

The temperature was rising in the crowd but the bout itself came to an end at the start of the seventh, the doctor deeming Donovan’s cut too severe to continue so the fight was halted.

Going to the cards for a technical decision, O’Brien got the deserved nod on a split decision (58-56, 58-56, 57-58) to win the belt for a second time.

The veteran moves to 15(2)-3(2) and called for a showdown with Walsh next while the green Donovan falls to 7(1)-1(0) following his maiden defeat.

Fight #2 – Shauna O’Keeffe v Valgerdur Gudsteinsdottir – 6 Rounds Lightweight
Tipperary’s Shauna O’Keeffe scored another stoppage victory tonight in Dublin, underlining her destructive capabilities by finishing tough Icelandic fighter Valgerdur Gudsteinsdottir inside four rounds.

A cut caused by a coming together of heads saw Gudsteinsdottir leaking blood for much of the fight and, like a red rag to a bull, O’Keeffe targeted the wound to leave the veteran journeywoman’s face a messy pulp.

Probing out of a Philly Shell, O’Keeffe landed sharp shots in the opening two minutes before opening up a gash on the scalp of the Icelander in the second following a clash of heads.

The stream of blood coming from Gudsteinsdottir, who had never been stopped previously, began to gush as O’Keeffe landed a volley of punches at the close and continued to do visually-appealing damage with accurate shots in the third.

Gudsteinsdottir, exhausted and covered in claret in the corner, came out for the fourth – which was initially a quieter round – but, following a period of pressure from O’Keeffe, the trainer of the visitor stood on the ring apron to signal the end.

The second stoppage victory sees O’Keeffe improve to 3(2)-0 while the outgunned Gudsteinsdottir drops to 7(2)-6(1).

Fight #1 – Gareth Dowling v Daniel Nowak – 4 Rounds Welterweight
If you followed him in the amateurs you knew Gareth Dowling could punch and he showed it tonight in eight ounce gloves.

The Dublin welterweight flattened Pole Daniel Nowak inside a round in the opening bout of the show at the 3Arena.

Within a minute the Docklands graduate sent Nowak down with a left hook that crumpled the knees of the visitor before a long right hand put the journeyman on his back.

Nowak, to his credit, survived the round and was willing to trade with Dowling in a wild opener, landing some shots, but it was all over nine seconds into the second. Another left hook sent Nowak down and referee Emile Tiedt had seen enough and waved proceedings off.

The maiden win sees Dowling start his professional career at 1(1)-0 and, following a delayed debut, he will look to make up for lost time when he returns to the ring in Belfast on November 1st. Nowak drops to 0-5(2).