Pierce O’Leary Showed KO Victim Mercy
Pierce O’Leary [10(6)-0] revealed he restrained himself from going for the kill on Saturday night to prevent inflicting damage beyond just defeat to Robin Zamora.
The 22-year-old turned out the Nicuagurian’s lights with a well timed right hook in the second round of a fight scheduled for eight.
While the South American’s senses gave way his legs didn’t and he was quite litteraly out on his feet, which afforded the Dubliner the chance to land a free shot or even a free combination.
However, noticing how hurt his foe was he hesitated and held back for a second or two, which afforded the referee time to step in and call a halt to proceedings before Zamora took shots that could have injured more than the away corner fighters pride.
“I knew I had him hurt the second I landed,” he explains. “I was going to jump on him but boxing is a dangerous game and if I jumped on him I’d have hurt him bad. That wouldn’t have been a nice thing. He was hurt, the referee jumped in and done the right thing.”
Gumshield sent to row 4.
— Irish-Boxing.com (@Irishboxingcom) July 16, 2022
2021 Irish Boxing Awards Knockout of the Year winner @pierce_oleary10 with another eye catching stoppage. pic.twitter.com/0eA7ZP4Cnu
Zamora tried the stoppage, that went viral, was premature but O’Leary, like so many watching from the sidelines praised the referee for his intervention.
“If he wasn’t stopped then it would of happened down the road and I was going to hurt him bad. Like I said the referee did well and did the right thing.”
The win was the Sheriff Street fighter’s fourth successive inside the distance victory and he is developing a reputation as a big punching prospect.
He admits he wanted the knockout on his BT Sports and Queensberry debut but believes it came because he didn’t go looking for it.
“I kept saying to myself ‘and still undefeated another TKO Pierce O’Leary’ and the announcer said it exactly like that there. I believe in visualization and it’s all happening for me. I didn’t even think of what shot I’d hurt him with. I just went out and boxed. When you do that these kind of stoppages come. I didn’t look for it. It was block and counter punch like Canelo versus Saunders and listen I’m going to be a Canelo in the next couple of years.”
