“The fire is still burning” for Noely Murphy following first defeat

Noely Murphy claims a first career defeat has stoked rather than dampened his desire to succeed in the fight game.

The Cork boxer was handed a breakthrough chance when Lou DiBella put him in with Brooklyn’s Mikkel LesPierre in a bill topping WBC USNBC light welterweight title fight.

Murphy [12(2)-1(0)] and his foe went to war for 10 rounds during the latest instalment of Broadway Boxing B.B. King Blues Club & Grill in Times Square, Manhattan.

The Irish youngster started and finished well, but his slick Trinidadian opponent enjoyed plenty of success for large periods in the middle.

The judges tallied 97-92. and 95-94 twice, all for LesPierre – however, but for a point deduction from referee Arthur Mercante in the ninth, which was disputed by some at the venue, Murphy would have earned a majority draw.

However, speaking to Irish-Boxing.com after the fight the Woodlawn-based ticket-seller didn’t even mention the scoring or the rabbit punch point deduction.

Instead, he was keen to focus on the positives and what he will take from a tough 10 rounds against a more experienced operator.

In fact, Murphy went as far as to suggest the fight has lit a fire under him and he is already excited about his next fight.

“I learned a lot from this fight, I’m taking the positives from it and will build on it,” promised Macroom man Murphy.

“Taking a loss really stings, especially in such a close fight in front of all your fans, but I left it all in the ring and can’t dwell on it.”

“The fire is still burning and I think this will make me hungrier than ever. I actually can’t wait to fight again.”

Murphy’s manager Kevin Crowley did reference the point deduction and stressed a draw was the minimum the 23-year-old deserved.

However, pride rather than disappointment seemed to be the main emotion Crowley was feeling following the reverse.

“First of all, I have to thank Noel and his whole team, Marcus Suarez and Tom Power asvwell as Chris Algieri, Danny Milano. and Jose Riveral who all put a lot of hard work in to get Noel to this level and in great shape for his first fight at the 140lb limit.”

“Noel himself worked extremely hard for this fight and we are all very proud of him. There were a lot of firsts for Noel – a first time at 140, first time headlining a show in New York City, first 10 rounder, and first fight for a WBC title in the USA.”

“He was in with a very formidable opponent and it shows how much Noel wants it. He is willing to step up and test himself against the best out there.”

“It was a close fight but we believe we either won by one point or at least a draw which we had with two judges only for a bad call from the ref who deducted a point from Noel. That cost us the draw, but it’s just a setback and Noel will come back even stronger from this.”

“Nothing beats experience and Noel is gaining that in New York all the time. He is 23 he has lots of time. He will take a week or two off and it’s right back to business,” Crowley outlined before thanking the support and suggesting the drop in weight will be permanent.”

“We couldn’t believe the support we had in Times Square on a Wednesday night, the atmosphere was great and we would like to thank all the fans for their support. Noel felt good at 140lbs and had the energy to go really hard in the last two rounds so his new weight is definitely 140lbs.”