On This Day: October 7th
1995: Ballymena’s Eamonn Loughran successfully defended his WBO welterweight title for the final time at the Ulster Hall in Belfast. Facing Angel Beltre of the Dominican Republic in a rematch of their bout earlier that year (where an accidental cut to to the Caribbean fighter caused an early halt), Loughran boxed to an easy win, taking the fight on the scorecards with wide margins of 119-109, 119-110, and 120-108.
1932: Jimmy McLarnin knocked out legendary former lightweight World champion and future Hall of Famer Benny Leonard in the sixth round of their bout at Madison Square Garden in New York. Leonard, who had ruled the lightweight division between 1917 and his retirement in 1925, had returned to boxing after losing his fortune during the Great Depression and was a shadow of his former self. The New Yorker would retire a second time following the one-sided bout while McLarnin would win the welterweight World title the next year.
