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The Irish Tommy Hearns – Pete Taylor believes Gary Cully is ‘Hitman’ special

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Don’t be fooled by the frame Gary Cully [10(5)-0] packs a punch akin to the equally lanky Tommy Hearns warns Pete Taylor.

The Kildare native turned the narrative on it’s head when he took out Joe Fitzpatrick in a round in the most eagerly anticipated Irish title fight in recent times last Saturday night.

Fitzpatrick was meant to be the puncher in the lightweight meeting, but it was ‘The Diva’ who packed the killer punch and pulled it out to win a genuine 50-50 clash before the first stanza was completed.

Not so much the win, but the manner of victory did surprise everybody – maybe even Cully himself considering he had a keep it cagey three round game plan.

Trainer Taylor wasn’t one of those left shocked. The coach notes how not many expect the long 6’3 lightweight to bang, but points out one of the greatest of all time, Hearns was always a tall fighter for the weight with knockout power.

“Some people think these big tall lads can’t punch, but he is like a southpaw Thomas Hearns, he can punch hard,” Taylor told iFL TV.

Taylor is a massive fan of a fighter the High Performance have always lamented losing and believes he has the skills, size and work rate to make him a threat for any European level fighter this early in his career.

“Gary is a special talent. He can do everything and he showed tonight he can punch as well.

“I can’t see anyone around Europe getting near Gary now. Just match him correctly, he is still young and I can see Gary fighting for a world title within 18 months. It would be a special lad to beat him,” Taylor adds before praising the Naas fighter’s work ethic.

“He is a great trainer as well he does them extra one percents that you need to do. Just keep him grounded. Get him grounded one round win so he can come back to the gym next week.”

Taylor also cornered a big win for Davey Oliver Joyce at the Ulster Hall on Saturday.

Joyce bounced back from his Golden Contract defeat to beat former world champion Lee Haskins and claim a WBO European ranking title.

The Olympian enjoyed the success at super bantamweight having dropped down the scales and Taylor claims he is more of a threat at the lower weight.

“He is strong at that weight. I think that’s his weight now. I think he is going to improve at that weight now. He fought Leigh Woods, who is a good fighter – and he was too small for that weight.

“You seen in there he was the bigger man tonight. Davey has years of experience too, hopefully in one or two fights we can get him a world title shot.”

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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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