‘And The New’ – Pierce O’Leary beats stuborn ‘Lion’ to claim first title
Pierce O’Leary heard ‘And the new’ for the first time in his career tonight.
The exciting Dub produced a power-laden performance to claim a first career title on the undercard of Zach Parker and John Ryder’s WBO Interim world title fight.
‘Big Bang’ ended Emmanuel Mungandjela’s eight-year unbeaten run to collect the WBC International light welterweight title at The 02 and live on BT Sports.
The Queensberry prospect dropped a stubborn foe twice en route to a well-deserved 99-89, 96-92, 99-92 points win.
The reigning Irish Boxing Knockout of the Year holder started fast and strong and had the Namibian on the canvas via a brilliant right hand in the first round.
Mungandjela beat the count, survived the round and remained capable enough to ask the London trained Irish fighter questions over the next few rounds.
The African re visited the floor in the fifth and but for the bell coming to his rescue could have been stopped there and then.
To his credit, Mungandjela came out fighting in the sixth, which allowed O’Leary to show his counter-punching skills. The capital favourite continued to hurt ‘The Lion’ but the line continued to show real heart, toughing it out and throwing shots of his own.
Dublin's Pierce O'Leary is crowned the WBC International Super Lightweight Champion 🏆
— Boxing on BT Sport 🥊 (@BTSportBoxing) November 26, 2022
His opponent Emmanuel Mungandjela showed tremendous heart bit it wasn't enough ❌#Fightnight pic.twitter.com/jVVq20GYGn
Mungandjela looked all but gone in the penultimate round when a short right hand threatened to wipe him out but again he managed to survive the round. Indeed, the gutsy Ongwediva native managed to make the final bell, meaning O’Leary was brought the distance for the first time since he fought Irvine Magno in early 2021.
Team O’Leary or the fighter himself won’t be concerned, will celebrate a career-enhancing title win and will be happy with 10 solid experience-building rounds.
O’Leary improves to 11-0 after victory in the learning fight his opponent drops to 16-4-1.
