On This Day: September 9th
1995: In their hotly anticipated rematch at Pairc Ui Chaoimh, Steve Collins again defeated Chris Eubank to retain his WBO super middleweight title via split decision (115-113 x2, 114-115). The relentless spirit-breaking style of The Celtic Warrior led to Eubank famously uttering “he’s been coming all night” to his corner during the latter rounds.
2009: John Joe Nevin claimed bronze at the World Championships in Milan following a quarter final win (7:5) over Chinese fighter Gu Yu. En-route to the last eight, the Mullingar man had defeated Azeri Rahim Najafov (19:4), Serbian Nikola Magovac (14:3), and Mongolian Iderkhuu Enkhjargal (10:4). In the semi finals Nevin was edged out (4:5) by Russia’s Eduard Abzalimov.
1993: Dublin featherweight Paul Griffin scored a countback (+8:8) win over Moldovan Ivan Chornyy to secure bronze at the European Championships in Turkey. The gold medalist two years previously, Griffin outpointed Hungarian Laszlo Bognar (6:5) and German Frank Sygmund (9:7) in the earlier rounds. Injury sadly forced the Drimnagh man concede a walkover in his semi final with Georgia’s Ramazi Paliani.
2006: Katie Taylor secured her second successive European title in Warsaw, Poland. The Bray lightweight scored a second round stoppage (via outpointing) over Russian Tatyana Chalaya. Previously the Wicklow woman had defeated Swede Teuta Cuni, Romanian Florina Popa, and her old Turkish rival Gulsum Tatar.
2000: Belfast’s Tommy Waite caused a huge shock by defeating holder Ady Lewis to claim the British and Commonwealth bantamweight belts. The Shankill Road man took a count in the second and was down on the cards, but managed to cut the Bury champion in the fourth right above the eye, causing the fight at the Bowlers Nightclub in Manchester to be stopped.
