Brave Tony Browne beaten in New York
Tony Browne was beaten last night in New York in his big Star showdown. The Dubliner took on Brazilian super middleweight champion Lucas Martins, his promotional stablemate, and came out the wrong side of a unanimous decision loss.
Making the 168lbs limit for the first time It was a tough night for ‘Super Fly’ at the Paramount Theatre versus the more seasoned Martins.
Competitive throughout, Browne came through an early onslaught from the South American power puncher but could not turn the tide. Indeed, as he searched for the stoppage, the O’Rourke’s Gym fighter was docked a point in the final round for the use of the head. The final cards read 78-73 x2 and 80-71, all in favour of Martins who improves to 14(11)-1(1).
A second defeat for Browne following his loss to Chico Kwasi last Summer, he now slips to 6(1)-2(0) and may need to adjust his career path in the short-to-medium term.
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There were wins elsewhere for Irish fighters this weekend, including Crumlin lightweight Willo Hayden who moved to 4(1)-0 in Telford. Opening the TV portion of the Queensberry bill on BT, Hayden was given a good run-out by Nicaraguan Engel Gomez, taking a few shots but coping well as he ran out a 40-36 winner. It was the 20-year-old’s fourth fight in under a year as he builds relatively quickly under Frank Warren.
Earlier on Saturday afternoon, Tommy McCarthy and Ruadhan Farrell were both in action in Estonia. The pair rounded off a week of sparring in the Baltic state with an appearance on a local small hall show to build their records further. Lenadoon cruiserweight McCarthy was fighting for the first time since his rematch defeat to Chris Billam Smith and his subsequent split with trainer Pete Taylor. The former European champion scored an easy second-round stoppage over Pauls Vilbergs to improve to 19(10)-4(2) – a result replicated by Farrell. The Newington super bantam was scheduled for six as he looks to move quickly towards a BUI Celtic title and he got Antons Zacests out early to move to 3(2)-0.
