Headline News

Update on Assassin fighters following Dublin show cancellation


More Irish boxers have secured new dates following the cancellation of the JB Promotions show that had been set for this Saturday night.

The National Stadium fight night was pulled last week, leaving 17 Irish fighters without fight dates.

READ: The Beginning CANCELLED

Boxing Ireland duo Martin Quinn and Dylan McDonagh, along with the co-headline bout of Victor Rabei v Karl Kelly was moved to the big Celtic Clash 6 show next Saturday [June 14th] and now Assassin Boxing, whom had been co-promoting the cancelled JB bill, have released an update on their fighters.

Belfast lightweight debutant Stephen Webb and Waterford super middle Craig McCarthy [3(0)-0] will now fight at the York Hall on July 14th on a Mickey Helliet show.

Previous holiday plans, however, have prevented Stillorgan middleweight Cillian Reardon from featuring on this bill.

Assassin also reveal that, behind the scenes, the July 7th headline fight in which Paddy McDonagh [11(0)-2(0)] would defend his Irish light middleweight title versus David Bailey [7(1)-0] was refixed for Bristol on the night before – only for McDonagh to suffer a late hand injury and be forced to pull out of the clash.

The Brighton-based outfit stressed that it is their intention to put on the fight later in the year.

Of the 17 Irish fighters that were due to fight this weekend, six have secured replacement fights for July 14th.

Reardon has unfortunately missed out, while we await updates for Liam Gaynor, Dylan Moran, Lynn Harvey, Craig O’Brien, and debutants Martin Wall, Eddie Treacy, Wayne Kenny, and Eoin McGrath. Promoter Byrne was also scheduled to fight but it looks now that he may go straight into his BBBoC Celtic light middleweight title fight with Scot Marc Kerr in Glasgow on September 14th.

Read Assassin’s statement in full below:

Following on from last week’s news regarding the cancellation of ‘The Beginning’ show promoted by JB Promotions in association with Assassin Boxing, scheduled for July 7th at The National Stadium, Assassin Boxing would like to make a brief statement on the matter.

We were left deeply disappointed that the show was cancelled on short notice. This was an awful outcome for all involved, especially, the boxers. The boxers had endured long training camps, diets, and time away from their families in order to get in peak condition.

The reasons for the cancellation of the show have been well documented. No one is the winner in this case, but by far the biggest losers in all of this are the boxers.

We hope in the future, as Jay Byrne said and that everyone in Irish boxing can work together for the good of the sport in this country.

Since the news broke on Thursday, we worked diligently over the next 72 hours to try to come up with different scenarios.

As we manage a number of boxers on the card, we soon took our ‘promoter hats’ off and thought of our boxers we manage that have been affected. It was our responsibility to our clients and boxers to get them the best opportunities. Thankfully we have managed to find solutions.

Having worked with Leonard Gunning and Stephen Sharpe before, the promotional outfit Boxing Ireland have agreed to host the mouthwatering title fight between our man Victor Rabei and Karl Kelly. We are ever so grateful, and look forward to all managers/promoters working together in the future.

Our co-main event between Paddy McDonagh and his mandatory challenger David Bailey was a key priority for us. Having had the fight rescheduled from March to July due to a hand injury for Bailey, the fight was once again cancelled for July 7th. However, we managed to get the fight rescheduled for July 6th in Bristol. This was through the kindness and hard work of promoters, Andy O’Kane, and Tommy Owens, as well as the help of The BUI and The BBBoC. Having had this finalised on Friday 29th of June, Paddy McDonagh injured his hand and has since had to withdraw from the contest. We are disappointed for both Paddy McDonagh and David Bailey, who have trained very hard, and to the fans, who are missing out on what could be a great fight. We hope to have this contest rescheduled very soon. We will work with David Bailey, in assisting him in any shape possible to ensure he can get a ‘tick over’ fight in the near future.

Stephen ‘Spider’ Webb was due to make his professional debut on ‘The Beginning’ card, but due to the cancellation we are delighted to announce that the Belfast man will now debut in York Hall, a special venue for most, on July 14th. This is a fantastic opportunity for Webb, one in which he is relishing.

Craig McCarthy was also due to fight on July 7th, but will now also fight in York Hall on July 14th. The Waterford man will get to experience the electric atmosphere in London, where stablemates, Roy Sheahan and Cillian Reardon have featured recently.

We are bitterly disappointed for Cillian Reardon, who will not have a bout rescheduled for July, with holiday plans preventing him from featuring in London on July 14th, and with the lack of shows in The UK on the weekend of July 7th, it made the task near to impossible. Cillian who made his pro debut in March in Dublin and fought again in April in York Hall, will be out again very soon, and we look forward to a busy six months before the end of the year.

Jordan Latimer was also one of the original boxers set to feature on The Beginning card, he will now fight in Manchester on August 25th.

Vladimir Belujsky was due to fight on July 7th originally, will now wait until September for his next bout, following 2 fights in Mexico in June. Belujsky will enjoy the well earned rest.

We are working with the likes of Kieran Farrell, to help in anyway possible to get his boxer, Dylan Moran out for a fight, having been one of the boxers affected by the late cancellation.

While we are also delighted to hear that Martin Quinn and Dylan McDonagh have both secured fight dates on Celtic Clash 6, on July 14th in Drimnagh.

We hope all boxers, not just our own, can secure fight dates as soon as possible.

In terms of our plans moving forward in Ireland, we look forward to working with all promoters, and look forward to future shows in Ireland, and keeping our Irish fighters busy.

Belfast super-featherweight, Mathew Fitzsimons features in Liverpool on July 21st.

While Darren Cruise is working towards potential fights with Conrad Cummings and Vladimir Belujsky, and JJ McDonagh is readying himself for a return to the ring, as he targets the likes of Chris Blaney.

Ray Moylette gained his 11th pro win, since turning over in March 2017, and is looking ahead to the new season, with some big fights on his wish-list.

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Joe O'Neill

Reporting on Irish boxing the past five years. Work has appeared on irish-boxing.com, Boxing News, the42.ie, and local and national media. Provide live ringside updates, occasional interviews, and special features on the future of Irish boxing. email: joneill6@tcd.ie

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