Murray halts Fagan to retain Irish lightweight belt

Andy Murray and Oisin Fagan served up an exciting bout on Saturday 13th February with Murray prevailing in the fifth round with the Irish lightweight title still firmly in his possession.

Fagan had, as expected, given a good account of himself until referee David Irving stepped in to save the proud Dubliner from further punishment. Oisin vehemently protested the stoppage and after failing to show at the post-fight press conference issued a statement which catalogued his disappointment.

“Just because I went into this fight as the underdog against the new ‘Golden Boy’ of Irish boxing, shouldn’t make things inconceivable and unobtainable for me,” he said.

“If you watch footage, you’ll see that I wasn’t hurt in the slightest at all during the fight and I was continuing to throw punches up until the very end. I wasn’t in trouble at any given time - it’s plain and simple to see. In fact, our gameplan was to up-it-a-gear in the seventh round.

“Big congrats to Andy. He's a very nice lad and one that I hope will do Irish boxing proud.”

Fagan started brightly and took advantage of Murray’s low left hand, landing repeated rights to head and body before Andy measured the range and started picking off classy combinations. Fagan’s eyes were swollen and mouth seeping blood when Irving waved it off, much to Fagan’s chagrin. Murray was ahead on my card but the stoppage did come as a surprise considering the action was at a lull when the ending arrived. Referee Mickey Vann, seated at ringside and officiating on the night, told matchmaker Tomas Rohan that it was the sort of contest when a referee is looking for an excuse to step in. Irving found one and acted swiftly.

Murray felt that his stellar amateur pedigree and superior movement provided the keys to victory. “The stronger the opponent, the better you will see me perform. There are even bigger performances in me yet,” he added.

The Irish heavyweight title had lay dormant for 13 years until Coleman Barrett defeated Colin Kenna over ten rounds to claim the belt and set-up a possible clash with Martin Rogan, who was an interested spectator at ringside. Barrett used his southpaw skills to frustrate Kenna and survived a potentially devastating second round knockdown to box is way home.

Kenna, in no great shape at just over 17 stone, lunged forward but was never able to recreate his success and was comfortably beaten over the course of the bout. Barrett was upbeat post-fight, “He has good punching power and caught me with a great shot but I got up, continued and went on to win it, because that’s what champions are made of.

“I’m happy to fight whoever Brian Peters or the boxing board puts in front of me,” Coleman added, when quizzed about a potential showdown with Rogan.

Tallaght featherweight Patrick Hyland did not take full advantage of a primetime TV slot as he went through the motions against tough Londoner Mickey Coveney, stopping the away man in the seventh with a chilling right hand. It was not all plain sailing for Pat who had problems dealing with Coveney’s southpaw stance and short stature.

Mickey qualified for his chance courtesy of a Cork-born father and said afterwards that he was proud to have contested the national belt. Hyland shrugged off his loose start and promised a better showing next time. The local man is skilled and I would read little more into this showing than an off-night. Hyland has been sparring Ricky Burns, in preparation for the Scot’s upcoming ‘world’ title challenge, and is eyeing a crack at European title holder Oleg Yefimovich.

“I see it as a good workout even though I was a bit sluggish in the first few rounds getting to grips with his style and improving the accuracy,” said a philosophical Hyland at the press conference. “These small boys are hard to hit with the ducking and rolling and he was picking his shots against me.

“I was off my game for the first four rounds and he wanted the Irish title off me and no doubt trained hard for this opportunity, so hats off to him. I was comfortable and I knew it would come eventually but I was a little frustrated until I got back to my boxing and finished the job,” he concluded.

Dubliner Anthony Fitzgerald outpointed Ciaran Healy of Belfast to claim the vacant Irish super-middleweight title. Referee Mickey Vann scored it 98-94 for the local man in a 10-round attraction that was hotly contested from start to finish.

There were wins for the other three remaining ‘house’ fighters.

Cuban Alexei Acosta (pictured left) overcame the frustration of his negative opponent’s movement to beat Venezuela’s Felix Machado. The veteran campaigner quit from a cut left eye before the start of the sixth round in a scheduled eight.

Belfast’s Jamie Conlan competed in an eight-rounder in only his second professional outing. Bulgarian journeyman Itsko Veselinov was the victim, falling in the fifth session following a classy body shot and flyweight Conlan will soon find himself in line for a title shot of some description.

Limerick’s Willie Casey lived-up to his puncher’s reputation when starching hapless Fernando Guevara in the first of a scheduled six. It was clear from the outset that overawed Guevara would not present too much of a challenge to the improving featherweight and so it proved as the southpaw used his skills to bludgeon Fernando to defeat.

Pictured left to right: Andy Murray, Brian Peters, Patrick Hyland, Coleman Barrett.