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Duffy delights in very own Rocky moment

Sylvester Stallone couldn’t have scripted it better.

Owen Duffy [6(3)-2(1)] believes his victory over Dominic Donegan [5(1)-4(1)-1] in the Clash of Cavan at the Europa Hotel last Saturday couldn’t have been any more dramatic.

The Shercock fighter took on a rival from a neighbouring town live on TG4 and got up the canvas to claim a career-changing win via a beautifully executed body shot.

It’s ‘The Butcher’s’ very own Rocky moment, and just like the film character’s display against Appollo Creed in the first installment of the franchise, it should propel the Lake County fighter into the spotlight and toward more good fights.

“On reflection, I feel it was like a scene from a Rocky movie,” he tells Irish-boxing.com.

“The fire alarm went off, getting dropped in round two, getting a cut, to coming back in the fifth round and stopping him with a body shot,” he adds before, just like Eric Donovan after his main event win, he claims being forced to come through adversity made the win all the sweeter.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way it made the result sweeter. 110% the dramatic nature of it added to it.”

It looked as if Duffy was on course to suffer defeat in his second all Irish meeting when he suffered a knockdown in the second stanza.

Having found himself in a similar position against Eddie Treacy in 2019 and suffering a reverse, the returning boxer would have been forgiven for having serious doubts at that point.

However, he tells Irish-boxing.com that even when faced with adversity his belief didn’t wavier and he remained confident of victory.

“To be honest I had no other vision but winning that fight. When I got dropped I thought ‘breath, compose yourself, stick to the game plan and I will break him down eventually’.”

Photo credit Belfast Boxers.

Jonny Stapleton

Irish-boxing.com contributor for 15 years and editor for the past decade. Have been covering boxing for over 16 years and writing about sports for a living for over 20 years. Former Assistant Sports editor for the Gazette News Paper Group and former Tallaght Voice Sports Editor. Have had work published in publications around the world when working as a freelance journalist. Also co-founder of Junior Sports Media and Leinster Rugby PRO of the Year winner. email: editoririshboxing@gmail.com

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