Stadium hat-trick for Hylands

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