Colm Murphy Happy to Draw Line Trough Irish Title Curse
Colm Murphy feared a 2023 Irish title curse would strike when a clash of heads opened a gushing cut over his eye on Saturday night.
A coming together as early as round 2 drew blood from ‘Posh Boy’ and significantly increased the chances of his Irish super featherweight title fight with Liam Gaynor being scored a technical draw.
If the doctor had halted the bout before the fourth round was completed the Irish title once held by Eddie Hyland, Anthony Cacace and James Tennyson would have travelled back to the BUI Offices rather than finding a new home with either of the fighters.
That was the case when Jamie Morrissey and Kevin Cronin fought in the only other Irish title fight to take place this year -[although that fight was scored a draw after 10 rounds] and that was something that crossed Murphy’s mind during the fight.
“I did know there would be some adversity and that was in my head, so was the fact the Irish title almost has a curse on it,” he told Irish-boxing.com after the his second title win.
“Kevin Cronin and Jamie Morrissey fought for it and it ended up a draw, no one won it and I did have all that in the back of my head,” he adds.
While there were some draw concerns, the Mark Dunlop prospect didn’t see red when he saw claret running down his face.
The Dee Walsh-trained fighter kept his head and instantly focused on what he had to do to win the green strap.
At first, it appeared as if he was going to go the knockout route, dropping the game Gaynor within moments of being cut. However, speaking after he revealed he felt the fight would be cut short because of the cut, so he focused on being the best in every second of the fight rather than taking a round-by-round approach.
“I was just worried it wouldn’t go to the scorecards,” he explains. ” After I got the knockdown I knew I was ahead, so [I thought to myself] keep winning every second of every round. When I got the bad eye in the last fight I was lucky it happened so late because they may have stopped that, and that didn’t get ruled a head butt, so he would have got the decision and I would have lost my belt. Straight away the ref ruled this a head butt and Liam got warned for a clash of heads as well, so I knew this time it would go to the scorecard and I knew I was ahead. The plan then was to win every second from then.”
The cut, the six stitches or even the fact doctors’ orders wouldn’t allow him celebratory drink couldn’t stop Murphy, who now has three all-Irish wins and two titles to his name in just eight fights, from smiling after the win.
Speaking through a smile he rejoiced in being an amateur and professional Irish champ and dedicated the win to his late grandfather.
“It’s going to take a while to digest. I won an Irish title as amateur and now I’m sitting here with a pro title too. It’s going to take a while to kick in, I’m over the moon. It means a lot to a lot of people. I’m going to dedicate this to my Grandad, he wasn’t around to see me win an Irish title but I know I’ve done him proud big time.”
Photo Credit Belfast Boxers.
