Red Cow Friday Fight Night – Full Card Fight Report

By Derek McKenna

Red Cow Friday Fight Night – Full Card Fight Report

Spectators were treated to an exciting evening of boxing at the Red Cow Hotel on Friday night with six action packed bouts on a bill topped by Phil Sutcliffe Jr. Each of the Irish fighters won on the night and put in good performances to send the fans home happy.

Phil Sutcliffe Jnr Vs Yoann Portailler

Topping the bill Phil Sutcliffe Jr had the toughest fight of his pro career in a hard 8 round battle against former French champion Yoann Portailler. It looked to be the same old script in the first round as the Crumlin boxer had his opponent on the canvas, but the tough and durable Frenchman dusted himself off and made Sutcliffe work for every minute of the bout.

‘Succo’ always looked the classier boxer and landed some stinging shots that would have had many opponents looking for a way out, but  Portailler showed why he has never been stopped, and landed some good shots himself, particularly in the fifth which he edged.

The Dublin super lightweight upped the pace again in the 6th, 7th and 8th landing some beautiful body shot / uppercut combinations and won the bout on points by 79-72

The power that Sutcliffe possesses was illustrated after the fight when the Frenchman’s team requested to inspect his gloves due to their disbelief of how hard their man ahd been hit!

Alfredo Meli Vs Valentin Stoychev

Cheif support of the night came from Belfast middleweight Alfredo Meli who stopped his Bulgarian opponent in the first round.

Meli jumped his opponent from the off and landed a vicious hook to the body that Stoychev couldn’t recover from and the referee stopped the bout.

Ciaran Bates Vs Pepi Perov

Ciaran Bates has been gaining a reputation as a hard puncher after 3 KO’s from his first 3 fights as a pro but on this occasion his tough and durable opponent weathered the storm.

Both fighters went for it from the first bell but after Perov tasted some of Bates’ power he went into survival mode. Lightweight Bates continued to land some stinging shots throughout but the tough and game Bulgarian survived and the Dubliner won on points by 40-36.

Gerard Whitehouse Vs Teodor Stefanov

Welterweight Gerard ‘Crank’ Whitehouse took his record as a pro to 3-0 after an impressive points win over Teodor Stefanov by 40-36.

Whitehouse stiffened his opponent’s legs in the first with a big shot that set the tone for the fight. In the second a big right and left sent Stefanov on his bike as he looked to escape the heavy handed Whitehouse.

Both fighters went toe-to-toe in the third but ‘Crank’ always landed the cleaner shots forcing his opponent to hold excessively in the fourth as he looked to see out the bout.

 Niall Kennedy Vs Moses Matovu

Heavyweight Niall Kennedy put in an impressive performance on his pro debut against the experienced Moses Matovu.

The Wexford fighter used the piston-like snapping jab exquisitely to keep Matovu at range and landed a number of big right hands on the Ugandan’s chin. A clash of heads left the Gorey native with a lump under his right eye in the first but he remained clam and boxed well for each of the four rounds.

The crowd were treated to some Matovu showboating as Kennedy landed the big punches in the 2nd and 3rd round but Celtic Warrior trained Kennedy looked relaxed throughout and won by 40-36 on the referee’s scorecard.

Craig O’Brien Vs Asen Vasilev

Super welterweight Craig O’Brien opened the show with with a classy points victory over the experienced Asen Vasilev.

O’Brien, in just his second pro bout looked relaxed as he used the jab to find his rage to land the power punches. In the second round he caught Vasilev with a sweet uppercut that sent his gum-shield flying.

The ‘Iron’ O’Brien dominated throughout and won comfortably on points by 40-36.