Chris Blaney – “Once I saw the opportunity to take him out, I did”

Navan’s Chris Blaney made it to four unbeaten at the weekend in Dublin with an impressive knockout of experienced Hungarian Gabor Zsalek at the National Stadium.

Fighting in what he hopes will be his final four rounder, ‘The Ginger Ninja’ had his opponent down heavily in the second before the fight was waved off.

An assured performance, showing real killer instinct, Blaney delighted his sizeable travelling support with the inside-the-distance win.

Blaney had made his debut at the same venue during the Summer, and felt he gave a much-improved performance this time round. The Meath boxer told Irish-Boxing..com that “I’m happy, as long as I get the win I’m happy, my team was happy so that’s really the main thing.”

Recapping the bout and the finish, Blaney outlined how “the plan going into the last round was to tip and tap to the head, go down to the body, and finish with the head, and it worked a treat.”

“I felt I was in great shape and could go the distance and do the four rounds – but you don’t get paid extra to do rounds so once I saw the opportunity to take him out I did.”

During the Summer Zsalek had gone the full six rounds with Alan Donnellan, meaning that comparisons will inevitably be made but Blaney stressed that “Alan’s not the target. It would be a good fight but it would be pointless, I’ve no belt, he’s no belt, so I can’t see that fight happening anytime soon, but if the fight was to come up I’d take it no problem.”

Photo Credit: Laszlo Geczo Photography