BOXING NEWS: OISÍN FAGAN lives in Portmarnock, but like Eddie Hyland he was born in Tallaght, and in his mind, at least, neighbourhood bragging rights may have been even more important than the International Boxing Federation (IBF) "International" title on offer in their main event at the Basketball Arena on Saturday night.
And Paddy Hyland, realist that he is, knew that, in tapping Fagan to replace originally-announced opponent Yogli Herrera after the Colombian fell out, he was putting the eldest of his fighting sons in a much tougher scrap. Herrera, after all, had lost five fights on the trot, which is more than Fagan had lost in the past five years. (Apart from December’s ill-fated encounter with Amir Khan, from which he emerged with a broken leg, Oisín’s other two losses in that span came on split decisions – to highly-regarded contender Verquan Kimbrough, and to Paul Spadafora, an undefeated former world champion.)
If the 1,500 non-holders of U2 tickets who turned up in Tallaght came in anticipation of a blood-and-guts war, they were rewarded with precisely that. In a bout the fighters had decided to dedicate to the memory of the late Arturo Gatti, both combatants supplied Gattisque intestinal fortitude.
Most of the blood, on the other hand, was Fagan’s.
Fagan had vowed to apply continuous pressure in the hope that it might take an eventual toll on Hyland, and while he resolutely stuck to that aggressive game plan for 12 rounds, it turned out to be like throwing Br’er Rabbit into the briar patch.
Hyland is an adept counterpuncher and a bit quicker with his hands than Fagan, and over the final third of the bout he was landing three punches going backwards to every one Fagan did moving forwards. By the middle rounds Fagan was bleeding from a split lip, and by the end of the night his left eye, swollen shut, had the approximate dimensions and hue of a four-ball in pool.
Fagan confirmed afterward that he had been hampered by his limited vision: “He was throwing quick little shots and I couldn’t see them.”
Having knocked one another silly for nearly an hour, the two embraced both before and after the final round, and despite a couple of glitches in Harry McGavock’s allocution of the verdict, Hyland was the clear winner by unanimous decision. Phil Edwards’ scorecard had it 118-110, Emile Tiedt’s 118-110 and Howard Foster’s 116-112.
“I don’t think the decision was a bad one, but the scoring wasn’t as wide as some of the judges,” said Fagan.
Indeed, our 115-113 score for Hyland seemed to reflect the opinion of most non-judges at ringside.
“That was some fight, wasn’t it?” said Eddie. “Don’t tell me that wasn’t Fight of the Year; it was just 12 rounds of toe-to-toe war. I expected it would be, because Oisín is that kind of fighter. I think we can safely say that the crowd got their money’s worth.”
Fagan’s record dropped to 24-7 with the loss, while Hyland emerged with a 13-1 mark in addition to his new “title”, the somewhat redundant IBF International championship.
Eddie’s younger brother Patrick also picked up a new belt, although in the grand scheme of things the IBF “international” title is considered a step down from the IBF “intercontinental” version he won in Boston earlier this year and subsequently relinquished.
Patrick Hyland easily outpointed an overmatched Abdu Tenazalwa to remain unbeaten at 17-0. Tenazalwa, now based in Stockholm, is 12-6. Perhaps more significantly, his record is 11-0 with 10 knockouts in his native Uganda, 1-6 with no knockouts outside it.
The third Hyland brother, 122lb-er Paul, put Yorkshireman Rob Nelson down with a pair of body shots in the first round, and coasted to an 80-75 points decision to improve to 15-1. Nelson, who was bleeding copiously from a cut at the corner of his eye, dropped to 7-3-2.
Late arrivals to the venue missed the bizarre conclusion of Jamie Power’s bout against Lithuanian Kirill (Pit Bull) Pshonko. The unbeaten (now 6-0) Limerick light-heavyweight had meted out three rounds of body punishment, and when the bell rang for the fourth Pshonko was still leaning over the ropes, his back to the ring, energetically puking into a bucket held by one of his seconds.
“I’ve seen that happen after a fight, but never during one,” said Tiedt, who awarded the bout to Power on the grounds that the Pit Bull, now 1-6, was unfit to continue.
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ARENA
(in Tallaght on Saturday)
Junior-lightweights: Edward Hyland, 130, Dublin dec. Oisin Fagan, 129½, Dublin (12) (wins vacant IBF International title). Featherweights: Patrick Hyland, 125¼, Dublin dec. Abdu Tebazalwa, 126, Kampala, Uganda (12) (wins vacant IBF International title).
Light-heavyweights: Jamie Power, 175½, Limerick, TKO Kirill Pshonko, 174, Klaipeda, Lithuania (4).
Super-middleweights: Robert Long, 164, Dublin dec. Denis Sirjatovs, 163, Riga, Latvia (4); Anthony Fitzgerald, 164½, Dublin TKO Peter Cannon, 164, Bradford, England (3).
Middleweights: Gary O'Sullivan, 158, Cork dec. Arturs Jaskuls, 156½, Riga, Latvia (6).
Junior featherweights: Paul Hyland, 120½, Dublin dec Robert Nelson, 121, Bradford, England (8).
