On This Day: November 15th
2014: The most recent Matchroom card took place in Ireland, with ‘Return of the Mack’ at the 3Arena in Dublin.
Headlined by Matthew Macklin, the Tipperary Tornado fought in a WBC middleweight title eliminator as he looked to return to World title fights. He took on Argentine Jorge Sebastian Heiland and was shockingly stopped in the tenth after a bright start unravelled as the rounds went on. While it looked like the Birmingham-born fighter may retire, he felt that he may have overtained for the bout. Macklin would return for four further fights and would then retire on something of a high following his win over Brian Rose earlier this year.
The undercard featured a huge grudge match between Spike O’Sullivan and Anthony Fitzgerald, with Cork middleweight O’Sullivan scoring a stunning first round knockout which endeared himself to Sky viewers – as did an errant stool.
After the main event there was the 2014 BUI Fight of the Year, where Jono Carroll and Deco Geraghty went to war. Coming in as a huge underdog, King Kong Carroll employed some mental warfare which drew Pretty Boy into a brawl, with him eventually being disqualified in the fourth round. The win saw Carroll secure a place in the Prizefighter Lightweights the following month – which he would sensationally emerge victorious from.
John Joe Nevin also made his Irish debut on the bill, demolishing Jack Heath inside a round, while Luke Keeler also scored a one round destruction of Gary Boulden which secured him a spot in Prizefighter Middleweights the following year.
Cruiserweights Tommy McCarthy and David Maguire both scored second round stoppages on the bill, over Martin Horak and Paul Morris respectively
There was also the final fight of Oisin Fagan’s career, with Gael Force being stopped in the second round by Kofi Yates.
A card that saw a few pull-outs, we were denied a rematch between Ian Tims and Michael Sweeney, with ‘The Storm’ pulling out with a lung injury. Tims would then lose, and suffer a freak leg injury, against replacement Paul Drago. Pajo Hyland was due to face John Simpson on the bill, but a withdrawal saw him instead outpoint Oszkar Fiko.
There were also appearances on the bill from English Matchroom fighters Kal Yafai, Anthony Crolla, and Sam Eggington.
