Kieran Molloy rules against King live on DAZN
Kieran Molloy warmed up for a big homecoming with an eight-round workout live on DAZN this evening.
The Galway welterweight hopeful dominated Matthew King to such an extent he shut out the English fighter over eight.
The southpaw European Games medal winner was more than deserving of his 80-72 win. Dominating the entirety of the fight, Molloy landed big and constant over eight rounds and would have gotten the finish but for stubborn resistance from his opponent.
The win sees the southpaw move to 9-0 with a stadium title fight in Galway rumoured to be next for the 25-year-old.
Molloy looked sharp from the off and punched real intent throughout the first round. Check hooks and body shots in particular troubled King in a session that suggested a stoppage was on the card.
King saw and felt enough in the first to go into his shell in the second. However, even that didn’t stop Molloy from inflicting damage and when one big left landed he was sent stumbling to the ropes.
Two brilliant left downstairs southpaws’ right hook combos tested the chin and legs of the Cobra at the start and finish of another dominant stanza before left hands became the story of the fourth.
The Galway native looked to up the gears in the next round. However, when he landed arguably the punch of his career, a sensationally delivered uppercut, and King took it, a punch finish looked off the cards.
The durability of King was again on display over the next couple of rounds as he was faced with a relentless big-punching approach from the Western favourite.
Molloy continued to land big accurate shots in the last, the trademark lead hand hook regularly jolting the Southampton native, but to his credit, he was still there at the final bell after giving the Irish fighter a solid eight-round workout.