‘It was a close fight that could have gone either way, that’s it’- McKenna defends Golden Contract semi final win

Tyrone McKenna [22(3)-4(0)] claims the backlash to his victory over Mohamed Mimoune [21(6)-1(0)-1] has taken the gloss of a fight that should be remembered for how it entertained rather than how it was scored.

‘The Mighty Celt’ was involved in a fan friendly fight that seemed to cause fan uproar.

Twitter reaction was negative toward the scoring of the Golden Contract semi final and as a result the southpaw argues people have forgotten just how good a fight it was.

Reflecting on the negative reaction to his win, McKenna said: “I think it’s kind of ruined the fight. It was an unbelievable fight, entertaining, both parties were giving it their all.

“We’ve left everything in the ring, and then after it, all the criticism kind of puts a dampener on the fight. Everybody is saying Mimoune clearly won it. He didn’t clearly win nothing. It was a close fight that could have gone either way, that’s it.”

McKenna hasn’t ignored the online reaction – and while he doesn’t understand why the ire is directed to him, he claims he will use it as motivation going into the eagerly anticipated final.

“A lot of people are on my back. I don’t know why they are on my back. It’s not like I judged it. I would like to go into the final, prove a point, show that I’m a world class fighter and I belong at that level.”

The Belfast light welter, who set up a final date with nemesis Ohara Davies with the victory, admits the semi final could have gone either way but argues he felt he was deserving of the nod.

“There was a lot of uproar and controversy. Yes, he did win the last few rounds. Round six, seven, eight and nine, I gave him, 100 per cent,” he adds before giving a round by round analysis.

“He won [rounds six to nine] by a landslide and people are looking at that, saying he won because he won four rounds. But they’re forgetting the first five, three of them I clearly won, and two of them could have gone either way. They went the way of me. It was a tight fight, it was a hard fight, and it was a very entertaining fight.

“It could have went Mimoune’s way, it could have been a draw, it could have gone my way. It went my way and I’m pretty happy with it.”