Weekend Round-Up: Boxing returns to Belfast
It was a successful weekend for Irish boxing as professional prizefighting returned to these shores for just our third card of the year.
While there were wins aplenty in Belfast on the Paul Hyland Jr-headlined MHD Promotions card, there were also Irish hands raised in both America and England.
Phil Sutcliffe Jr [11(7)-1(0)] started the weekend on Friday at the Greenbank Sports Academy in Liverpool. The Crumlin light welterweight made his MGM debut on the ‘Genesis’ card on Merseyside and was handed a disqualification win. His opponent, Lithuanian light middleweight Edvinas Puplauskas, was turfed out in the fourth of six scheduled rounds due to persistent headbutts.
Headlining the show in Liverpool was Kid Shamrock JJ Metcalf [14(6)-0]. The light middleweight dropped Cameroonian Serge Ambomo en-route to an eight-round points (78-75) win.
Across the Atlantic at the A La Carte Pavilion in Tampa, Florida, Connor Coyle [1(1)-0] made a perfect professional debut. The Derry light middleweight needed less than half a round to become the first man to ever stop Euris Silverio.
On to Saturday and the big ‘Another Level’ card at the Europa Hotel, where headliner Paul Hyland Jr [13(4)-0] overcame a heavy late replacement in Nelson Altamirano over eight rounds. The Belfast lightweight gave up a half a stone on the scales but grabbed an 80:71 win on the scorecard, dropping his Nicaraguan opponent in the third.
On the undercard in the Titanic City, Derry’s Tyrone McCullagh [5(4)-0] stopped Edwin Tellez in the fourth of six scheduled rounds, while Coalisland’s Feargal McCrory [3(1)-0] outpointed (40:37) Ivailo Boyanov. Three Dubliner’s also featured, with Clondalkin cruiser Ian Tims [12(3)-3(2)] outpointing (60:55) Lithuanian Remigijus Ziausys, Loughlinstown’s Jay Byrne [2(1)-0] defeating Liam Griffiths (40:36), and Jobstown debutant Carl McDonald [1(0)-0] overcoming Poland’s Kamil Jaworek (40:36). Finally, new Scottish super featherweight signing Ronnie Clark made his MHD debut, outpointing Nicaraguan Reynaldo Cajina.
Across in England, Ulster journeymen Casey Blair [3(0)-15(3)] and Jamesy Gorman [8(3)-28(3)-1] were in action in Ashington against Basi Razaq and Lewis Ritson respectively, while Paul O’Brien [22(3)-0] got the rounds in with Ben Eland.
Finally in Scranton, Pennsylvania, middleweight Jimmy Kelleher was in hometown action, stopping Jermaine Corley in the second.
Photo Credit: Ricardo Guglielminotti – The Fighting Irish (@ThefIrish)
