No Fairytale night for Hyland against World class Russell Jr

Pajo Hyland’s challenge for the WBC featherweight title came up short in the early hours of this morning in America.

‘The Punisher’ took on 126lb champion Gary Russell Jr at the Foxwoods Casino in Conneticut on a Premier Boxing Champions card live on Showtime – and succumbed to a second round stoppage loss.

The Jobstown native came into the fight full of confidence and started aggressively, but was undone by a blistering display from Russell Jr. The American floored Hyland three times in the second stanza before the bout was waved off.

While it was a dissapoiting reversal for Hyland and new trainer Paschal Collins, there is certainly no shame in the loss against one of the World’s top fighters.

Hyland drops to 31(15)-2(1) with the defeat, while Russell Jr improves to 27(16)-1(0) and will now seek unification against the likes of Lee Selby or a rematch with Vasyl Lomachenko.