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“I underestimated him and it blew back in my face” admits Martin Quinn after Barros battle


One of the fights of the weekend took place early on on the ‘Celtic Clash 4’ undercard.

Saturday evening at the National Stadium played host to a four-round war between Crumlin favourite Martin Quinn [2(1)-0] and Spanish road warrior Iago Barros [2(1)-8(0)-2].

The lightweight pair traded huge shots in their four-round battle, with Quinn eventually being ruled a 39-37 winner.

Unlike some journeymen, Barros had came to win, and was perhaps slightly unlucky on the cards – however the Galician provided plenty of on-the-job experience for Quinn.

Afterwards the Dubliner, who had predicted a first round knockout, was happy with the result – if not the performance.

“I said that I wanted to knock him out, I couldn’t knock him out, but I got the four rounds and that’s what I really wanted, a bit of experience,” he noted. “I’ll have a little bit more now for the next guy.”

“I got four good rounds out of it, that’s what I wanted. It didn’t go the way I wanted, but I got the win didn’t I? ”

Looking back on the fight, Quinn described how “he wobbled me once or twice, but I wobbled him once or twice. I caught him with a nice few shots.”

“It was a good fight, we banged. It was a good fight, I enjoyed it.”

“I came to win, I got the win, it didn’t go the way I wanted it to and I’m not happy with how I performed, but I got the win. I did what I came to do, whether it was easy, hard, or in the middle, I won.”

Quinn admitted that he underestimated Barros, whose record is deceiving.

“I underestimated him and it blew back in my face. Big time, and I won’t let it happen again.”

“In the third round he caught me with a belter and it knocked me off a little bit, I won’t lie.”

“He banged for a little bloke! He caught me with one that messed me up a little bit.

“No matter what you call him, he has experience. I’ll learn from my mistakes,” he added before explaining the learning curve he is undergoing having turned pro aged 30 with little amateur experience.

“I’m still only getting used to this,” said Quinn.

“That was only my second time. I’m still trying to get my diet right, my energy was a bit low, I was that excited that I didn’t sleep last night, there’s loads of things. I’m still learning, that was only my second fight.”

“It’s literally only five rounds that I’m after having. I’ll get there.”

Event promoter Leonard Gunning has floated the possibility of a rematch – and it certainly would guarantee excitement.

Quinn himself is keen to be in good fights and outlined his desire to return to the ring “quick as possible to make up for that, I’m not happy with that at all.”

“I want to go up again. He was a tough, tough boy – the other boy [debut opponent Marcin Ficner] was nothing.”

Photo Credit: Ricardo Guglielminotti – The Fighting Irish (@ThefIrish)

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Joe O'Neill

Reporting on Irish boxing the past five years. Work has appeared on irish-boxing.com, Boxing News, the42.ie, and local and national media. Provide live ringside updates, occasional interviews, and special features on the future of Irish boxing. email: joneill6@tcd.ie

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