30 April 2008 – by Cormac Campbell

East Belfast battler Colin Moffett goes in to Fridays British Bantamweight clash with Ian Napa with little to lose and everything to gain.

The 33-year-old Irish champion, 8-11-4 (6) earned his biggest meal ticket with a revenge victory over Eugene Heagney at the National Stadium in December 2007 and despite going in to this weekends clash with 30-year-old Napa, 16-6 (1), as an underdog, the Star of the East will realise this is his biggest and possibly last chance to mix in major championship class.

The event, which takes place at the Harvey Hadden Leisure Centre in Nottingham and will feature as chief support on Salem Bouaitas challenge to European Super Bantamweight champion Rendall Munroe.

The fight will be shown live on Sky Sports Friday Fight Night.

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30 April 2008 – by Cormac Campbell

The Irish News excellent Seconds Out Column this week reports that former British Welterweight Champion Neil Sinclair, 31-6 (24), has accepted a fight for the European Union title against Daniele Petrucci, 20-0-1 (9) of Rome.

The bout will take place in the Italian capital on June 7.

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28 April 2008 – by Cormac Campbell

Derrys John Duddy has split from trainer Don Turner after just four fights.

The unbeaten middleweight contender will now work with Jermain Taylors former coach, Pat Burns, as he seeks to force a shot with undisputed champion Kelly Pavlik before the end of the year.

It is believed that Duddys poor performance in his bout with Walid Smichet, in which he sustained serious facial cuts, was the catalyst for the split.

In recent fights there has been a noted lack of snap and timing in Duddys work, with critics of Turner arguing that Evander Holyfields former mentors approach to sparring was to blame.

Meanwhile Duddy, who was originally expected to be sidelined until November, could be back in the ring as early as June, with a bout in the Irish stronghold of Boston the likely comeback route.

Reports also indicate that the Derryman has been househunting in ‘The Maiden City’, fuelling speculation that his long-term future, post Pavlik, will be in Ireland.

These rumours have been further tempered by the difficulties Duddys fianc, Grainne, has experienced in getting a Visa to return to New York.

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26 April 2008 – by Mark Doyle

Irelands undefeated light-middleweight, James Moore, believes that he is now ready to move to the next level.

The 30-year-old Wicklow native, who is based in New York, is still on a high after his unanimous points win over Juan Carlos Candelo, in March, and is now searching for top quality opponents.

Indeed, his main target his Ronald Hearns, the son of the former six-weight world champion, Thomas.

I have been saying for years that I want big fights, Moore (15-0) is quoted as saying by fightbeat.com

By beating Candelo I proved that I am ready to move to the next level. I dont want any more easy fights. The only way Im going to move my career forward is by fighting the best possible opponents.

Ive been fighting a long time and realize it is time to make my move.

I truly believe that this is going to be my year. I am very happy with the outcome of my fight with Candelo, and I would love to follow it up with a victory over someone like Hearns.

If that fight does not get made, its not going to because of me. Im ready, willing and eager to fight him.

And Moores matchmaker, Bruce Silverglade, is determined to secure his man one of the big names in the light-middleweight division.

James is willing to fight anyone in the world, said Silverglade. I keep getting inquiries from ESPN 2, Showtime and HBO. James and his team are very confident in his abilities.

We are looking for high-profile opponents. I can assure that James is not the roadblock in any negotiations for a big fight.

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25 April 2008 – by Bobby Lavery

Having taken my seat in a fairly central part of the Anderstown leisure centre (and hoping no one with a very large head was going to sit in front of me) I was pleased with my vantage point.

The nights boxing began with three youth bouts. with all six lads putting in fine performances.

The first senior into the ring was Beijing-bound Paddy Barnes. He lifted the Turkington Cup by way of walkover. By that time it was standing room only and the first two boxers were ready to enter the fray – Jamie Conlan (St John Bosco Belfast) and Ruairi Dalton (St Johns Belfast)

Dalton, at 17, must not be disappointed with this result. Yes, he was edged out 22-21 in this thrilling flyweight encounter, Conlans cleaner punches and, at times, faster hands keeping him in front throughout, but the teenager, for his terrific effort, won the most improved boxer of the championship and I feel we will be seeing plenty of this young man in the future.

Another top-class display of boxing came in the lightweight division between Anthony Cacace (Holy Trinity) and Stephen Donnelly (All Saints Ballymena).

This could just have been the hardest fight of the night to judge with both lads evenly matched in height and style.

Cacace seems to have perfected the art of leaning back and making his opponent miss before quickly getting in with a quick left-right. He used this tactic to good effect on several occasions.

Donnelly, for all that, pressed well and displayed a solid defence and a long left jab which did regularly tag Cacace.

When the 12-9 score was called out in favour of 19-year-old Cacace, Donnelly, 21, showed good sportsmanship in the manner in which he took the defeat and acknowledged the crowd for their support.

In what could have been billed the main event for obvious reasons, Shane McGuigan (Clones) and Cathal McCauley (Dungloe) locked horns in the welterweight division for the McGeough Cup.

All cameras were pointed in the direction of McGuigan’s corner as his coach (and father) is former world featherweight champion Barry.

Once things got underway it was southpaw McCauley who settled the better, picking McGuigan off with right hooks. They were very timid shots, though, and, as the end result showed, did not seem to register scores.

Indeed, McCauley somehow found himself down by four points at the end round one and this led the Dungloe man to change his style and press forward in round two.

He caught McGuigan with a cracking left uppercut but the Clones mans response was a straight right, knocking his opponent back onto the ropes and forcing him to retreat.

It was turning into be a hard-fought encounter for both men but McCauley, for my money, seemed to be edging it.

Rounds three and four were much the same, with McCauley finding himself behind and having to go and look for scores.

This suited McGuigan as he was the stronger of the two and found his right hand connecting well with his target.

However, McCauley felt he had done enough to be the Ulster champion and when the 26-13 scoreline was called in favour of McGugian, the crowd voiced their disapproval with a chorus of boos.

The boos were not directed at young McGuigan, of course, but at the judges and the outrageous score they had came up with.

Other results:

Ryan Lindberg W Tyrone McCullagh 14-4 Bantamweight

Carl Framton W Eamon Finnegan 20 point rule Featherweight

Patrick Murphy W Patrick Gallagher 12-5 Light-welterweight

Eamon O’Kane W Martin Lynch 21-15 Middleweight

Tommy McCarthy W Paul Moffett RSC2 Light-heavyweight

Shane Curran W John Paul Reah Heavyweight

Cathal McMonagle Walkover Super-heavyweight.

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24 April 2008 – by Cormac Campbell

Henry Coyle (6-1) looks set to return to the ring on Friday, May 9 at the Cicero Stadium, Chicago.

The 20-year-old Mayo middleweight prospect will be up against 31-year-old Montana Journeyman Ben Aragon (7-9-2) at the Battle for Pride promotion.

The contest will feature on the undercard of former Contender star Miguel Hernandezs bout with hometown rival Derrick Findley.

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24 April 2008 – by Cormac Campbell

Fight fans in Dublin will be forced to make a choice on July 12 when two professional bills are staged in the capital city on the same night.

At the National Stadium, former EBU super-bantamweight champion Bernard Dunne returns to the venue where he made his name against a yet to be announced opponent.

Meanwhile at the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght, English light-middleweight star Jamie Moore clashes with Ciaran Healy on a card promoted in conjunction with the Egan Catering group.

Further details at this juncture remain sketchy, but return to irish-boxing.com for regular updates.

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22 April – by Bobby Lavery and Mark Doyle

There is some confusion surrounding the allegedly already arranged rematch between Eddie Hyland and Kevin OHara.

Hyland claimed the vacant Irish super-featherweight title by outpointing OHara in a thrilling bout at the National Stadium on Saturday night.

Shortly after the bout, the master of ceremonies for the evening, Harry McGavock, was handed a piece of paper in the ring and immediately announced to the crowd that a rematch had already been agreed upon, for July 12 at the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght.

However, irish-boxing.com has learned that Destination Events, the promotional team behind Saturday nights event, will not be responsible for staging the reported July 2 show.

Not only that, according to Destination Events, Hyland has not signed up for a rematch with OHara and, at this point, will not be appearing on the bill.

It now remains to be seen exactly who is hosting the July 12 show, which it was claimed will be broadcast on TV3, and whether or not Irish super-featherweight champion Hyland will even be involved.

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17 April 2008 – by Mark Doyle

John Duddy’s future plans remain unclear, with the Derry middleweight’s manager, Eddie McLoughlin, admitting that he is not sure when his fighter will be back in action.

Duddy had been scheduled to fight undisputed middleweight champion of the world Kelly Pavlik in New York on June 7 but he saw his world title shot taken away from him after sustaining horrendous cuts above both his eyes in his last outing, against Walid Smichet in February.

The severity of the facial damage he sustained that night at Madison Square Garden – he needed 25 stitches after the bout – resulted in a mandatory three-month suspension from the ring.

With the ban not set to end until May 23, McLoughlin is in no hurry to arrange Duddy’s return.

John is in training, but for the next month or so we have nothing planned in the line of fights, he explained.

Well start to work on that once the suspension is over. John is wrapping up some personal business and he is also due to go back to Derry to buy a house.

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21 April 2008 – by Bobby Lavery

On sat night past i had the pleasure of covering what turned out to be an eight fight top class boxing bill which was promoted by Destination Events, on the line were two Irish titles superfeatherweight between Edward Hyland and Kevin O’Hara and an eagerly awaited featherweight title between Patrick Hyland and fellow Dubliner Paul Griffin.

PAUL HYLAND v AYITTEY METTLE

By the time the first of the three Hyland brothers got into the ring, the atmosphere of the eventual sell out had been building. Paul received a good hometown welcome. It was July, 2007 since Paul had fought but he showed no ring rust easily winning every one of the eight rounds leaving ref Paul McCullagh scoring it 80-72.

EDWARD HYLAND v KEVIN O’HARA

No toilet or smoke breaks in this one. This was fought at a furious pace one of those fights that deserved TV coverage.

Both men with similar styles and hair cuts it was only for the different shorts that you could tell them apart. This fight was fought in the centre of the ring for five rounds with Hyland going onto the back foot for the next three.

O’Hara pressed well in them three rounds jabbing his way in snapping out quick rights and moving away. Head and body movement of both men was excellent with Hyland’s left hook connecting well when coming out of the toe to toe encounters.

Maybe it was Hylands game plan to go on the retreat preserving energy as he came strong in the last half of the ninth and all of the last, not taking anything away from O’Hara who gave as good as he got.

As the bell sounded for end of an epic dual, both men embraced in the centre of the ring where they had traded punches for the previous 30 minutes the crowd were on their feet giving a well deserved standing ovation which lasted as long as a three-minute round of boxing. Great stuff.

Master of ceremonies Harry McGavock collected the result of ref Emile Tiedt asking for people once again to show their appreciation. The crowd was silent as Harry began to speak to announce the winner first calling the score of 99-96 and Hyland the winner.

The crowd erupted with cheer but through the cheers disaproval from the large support that was there for O’Hara could be heard. O’Hara for all that was gracious in defeat by his friend making his way over to Eddies mother, hugging her before departing from the ring leaving Hyland to be presented with the Super featherweight title belt.

A date for a re-match has been set for july12th 08 in the Tallaght centre on another Destination Events promotion . /P>

PATRICK HYLAND v PAUL GRIFFIN

Arriving at the main event of the evening the crowd was down in numbers showing the extent of support O’Hara had with him. Albeit it was still a good atmosphere leaving support for both men even.

Griffin was first into the ring looking in great shape for a 36-yearold. It had been 11 months since Griffin had fought it being in Australia where as Hyland had put in four appearances in as many months coming up with 3 KOs and an eight round points win.

The scheduled ten rounder started off at the same pace as the Hyland-O’Hara fight the crowd were on there feet from the opening bell.

Hyland’s trademark fast hands were causing Griffin all sorts of trouble as he was unable to get under Hyland’s superior reach. Griffin was on the canvas twice in the first but twice referee confirmed they were slips. The bell sounded for the end of round one and it was advantage Hyland.

In round two Griffin a southpaw settled well jabbing and moving quickly catching Hyland with quickfire lefts a good display of boxing from Griffin.

Round three and Hyland seems to step up a gear putting a lot of pressure on Griffin then on 1min and 58secs into the round the breakthrough came for Hyland as he landed a stiff left followed by a thunderous right dropping Griffin in the centre of the ring as he tried to get up he stumbled back onto the ropes.

Griffin rose on the count of 6 indicating he was fit to carry on with the ref wiping down his gloves bringing the two men to the centre of the ring to box on 10secs later it was all over with Hyland landing a crunching left hook on griffin’s jaw leaving Tiedt calling a halt to proceedings. Another Irish belt was on it’s way to the Hyland household.

The nights other results:

Luke Wilton W Delroy Spensor PTS 4

Declan Timlin W Telcano Mircea TKO 4

Jonathan O’Brien W Moses Matovo PTS 6

Ian Timms W Mirica Edvardo PTS 4

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