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VOTE: The Liffey Crane Hire Irish Boxer of the Month – OCTOBER


October was another busy month for Irish boxing.

Big shows, small shows, away wins, world titles, amateur medals, there was a bit of everything.

Again a hard month to pick a winner in, we have 15 nominees for the past month.

Paddy Gallagher
Belfast
Welterweight
The BBBoC Celtic champion defended his title for the first time, travelling to Edinburgh to take on Glasgow’s Gary Murray. A swing bout delayed until near-midnight, when Gallagher eventually got into the ring he was too strong for the unbeaten Scot and claimed a final round stoppage win. Murray was hospitalised afterwards but is thankfully on the mend.

Vladimir Belujsky
Cork
Super Middleweight
Despite being held to a draw in his debut, the Mitchelstown youngster jumped straight into a domestic clash in fight number two – and subsequently scored a statement second round stoppage against touted Dublin-Dominican debutant Manny Bique

Chris Blaney
Navan
Super Middleweight
Just over a year a pro, the Meath boxer gave an assured performance to defeat Matiouze Royer and claim his first career title – the BUI Celtic title

Craig O’Brien
Dublin
Light Middleweight
The inner-city stylist recovered from a heavy first round knockdown against Alain Alfred and boxed his way to a points win to claim the BUI Celtic belt. O’Brien would be honoured afterwards by Bohemian FC and the Dublin Lord Mayor – with a documentary telling his inspiring story also being released.

Noely Murphy
Cork
Welterweight
The Macroom boxer headlined his first show, again bringing hundreds of fans to Dublin, and underlined his quality with a dominant win over slippery former EU champion Gyorgy Mizsei Jr.

Dennis Hogan
Kilcullen
Light Middleweight
The Brisbane-based Irishman moved into pole position for a WBO world title shot with a shockingly dominant win over Yuki Nonaka in the headline bout of an arena show in his adopted hometown.

Tyrone McKenna
Belfast
Light Welterweight
The Lenadoon southpaw dealt with a late replacement and the disappointment of being bumped off the televised portion of the big Sky bill to edge past relentless Frenchman Renald Garrido in what was his first ten-round fight.

James Tennyson
Belfast
Super Featherweight
The Poleglass puncher scored a third stoppage in his third domestic dust-up of the year, going to war with Aberdeen’s Darren Traynor in an electric fight before obliterating the Scot in the third round with a massive right hand.

Paul Hyland Jr & Stephen Ormond
Belfast & Dublin
Lightweight
A joint nomination for two Irish boxers that put on one of the Fights of the Year. The extremely controversial scorecards and decision engulfed much of the aftermath of what was an epic pendular fight between two of Ireland’s most fan-friendly fighters who both left everything in the ring over the 12 rounds..

Ryan Burnett
Belfast
Bantamweight
The Antrim Road 25 year old become Ireland’s second ever unified champ – and the first to do so on these shores – following a gruelling fight with Zhanat Zhakiyanov to merge the IBF and WBA belts. An intensely physical twelve rounds, Burnett was able to withstand the pressure from the Kazakh before breaking him down, pushing him back, and win out on the cards.

Gabriel Dossen
Galway
Welterweight
Dossen claimed his second major international medal at the European Youths in Turkey, coasting past Estonian, Ukrainian, and Azeri opposition to bag a bronze to go with his World Youth bronze won last year. The Olympic BC teen was edged out on a split in the semis by England’s eventual gold medalist Mark Dickinson

Jordan Myers
Sligo
Middleweight
The big man went to war in Turkey, blasting his way through Bulgarian, Serbia, and Israeli opposition to win a bronze to add to his European Schoolboys gold. Myers eventually was undone by Russian Daniil Teterev, who himself went on to win gold.

Gearoid Clancy
Oughterard
Light Welterweight
The Galway Assassin bounced back from seeing an Irish title fight fall through and a rematch loss to Nort Beauchamp. The Sydney-based fighter outpointed Thailand’s Wanphichit Siriphana in Punchbowl over eight competitive rounds.

Katie Taylor
Bray
Lightweight
The Wicklow woman won her first world title on the big Anthony Joshua v Carlos Takam pay-per-view undercard at the Principality Stadium. In what was the fight of the night in Cardiff, Taylor won on points against former champ Anahi Esther Sanchez, dropping the Argentinian in the second round.

Darragh Foley
Dublin
Light Welterweight
The Blanchardstown banger continued his creep up the world rankings with another defence of his WBA Oceania belt. This time round, in his fourth defence, the Sydney-based pro defeated Japan’s Ryuji Hachimitsu Ikeda on a one-sided technical decision following an eighth round clash of heads. The victory sees him add the WBO Oriental and WBC Asian Interim belts to his locker.

Voting remains open until Thursday (November 9th) night, with the winner being announced on Friday morning.

Vote below:
[yop_poll id=”27″]

dpg

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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