Easy wins for Molloy and Walker

KIERAN Molloy and Kurt Walker had two comfortable wins in Frankfurt tonight, and while both of their contests going the full scheduled six rounds, both were also very one-sided.

Molloy was first into the ring, facing the Georgian Sandro Jajanidze.

The Oughterard man, wearing the maroon and white of Galway, totally dominated the first round, with his jab paving the way for hard left hands, time and again. Virtually nothing was coming back at him.

It continued in the same vein for some time, Molloy completely dominant, with Jajanidze constantly on the back foot, and at times catching powerful shots.

While Jajanidze was taking punishment, the only time he looked like going down was late in the fourth, but when he fell to the canvas it was ajudged that he had slipped.

Finally in the fifth Molloy began to face something in the way of attack, with Jajanidze offering a bit of pressure, and it was certainly the most competitive round up to that point. Now he had some hope of getting something, Jajanidze’s again offered an improved performance in the sixth, but Molloy was never really troubled, picking up a comfortable victory, all three judges scoring it 59-55.

The fight between Kurt Walker and Yin Caicedo had somewhat inverse momentum to the previous one, with the outsider Caicedo holding his own in the first couple of rounds, before being outclassed in the last four. 

The overwhelming favourite, Walker struggled to assert any dominance early on, and the first round was very even. In the second the Colombian again performed well, although some decent shots from the Irish fighter shaded it for him. 

Walker was figuring out what was required, and he showed very good balance and movement in the third, while he was again on top in the fourth, which finished with the bizarre sight of Caicedo racing away from his opponent. 

The fight was moving towards a predictable conclusion in the sixth, when the only real moment of controversy arrived.

It appeared that Caicedo bit Walker on the back of the neck, but the referee was unsighted and no action could be taken.

Unsurprisingly and understandably Walker was incensed by the situation and he showboated his way through much of the remainder of the fight, while still being fully in control.

So two easy wins for the Irish men, for whom bigger future tests await.