Pierce O’Leary retains WBC International belt, Conner Kelsall claims vacant Commonwealth flyweight title
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Updated 29/06/2024 at 14:03 GMT
Pierce O’Leary retained his WBC International super-lightweight belt with a comfortable points win over Darragh Foley inside Belfast’s SSE Arena. The two men from Dublin put on a show in the co-main event but it was O’Leary who landed the better shots to continue his march towards a world-title shot. In the other co-main event, Conner Kelsall earned a majority decision victory over Conor Quinn.
Pierce O'Leary celebrates with the title belt after victory over Hovhannes Martirosyan (not pictured) in the WBC International Super Lightweight Title fight on March 16, 2024.
Image credit: Getty Images
Pierce O’Leary defended his WBC International super-lightweight championship with an enthralling unanimous decision victory over Darragh Foley.
It was a clash of Dubliners that lived up to the billing over 10 bruising and fast-paced rounds inside the SSE Arena in Belfast.
The cleaner work came from O’Leary, who continued his march towards a world-title shot after the three judges scored it 98-91, 98-91 and 99-90 in his favour.
“It was amazing, it just goes to show the level I’m at,” O’Leary told TNT Sports.
“I executed the game plan perfectly. I could have gone through the gears quicker but I’ll get back in the gym and get back at it.”
The fight started quickly and the pace rarely dropped. O’Leary found a home for a sharp right uppercut towards the end of the opener that appeared to briefly wobble Foley.
And it was that punch that floored Foley in the second. The challenger beat the count and connected with a couple of looping, overhand rights but the more stinging punches continued to come from O’Leary.
He put together some nice combinations towards the end of a ragged third as Foley’s footwork got him in a tangle against a technically superior boxer.
But Foley, to his credit, kept coming forward and found some success in the fourth and fifth rounds.
They were punches in isolation, though, and did not appear to inflict any damage on O’Leary, who snapped Foley’s head back in the middle part of the fight with some straight rights that pierced the guard.
O’Leary then had Foley seriously hurt in the last 30 seconds of the sixth with two quick left hooks in succession, but he could not find the finishing shot.
After a close seventh, Foley enjoyed his best round in the eighth, taking advantage of a slight drop in intensity from O’Leary to land a nice right and a couple of big lefts.
Both continued to come forward and land as they went in search of a finish in the final two rounds, O’Leary with the combinations and Foley with the wild haymakers, and fittingly it went all the way to the final bell.
It was a fight with plenty of needle between local rivals but it ended with a nice touch of sportsmanship as Foley raised his opponent onto his shoulders to celebrate his deserved triumph.
Kelsall claims vacant Commonwealth title
Conner Kelsall got his hands on the vacant Commonwealth flyweight title with a majority decision win over Conor Quinn.
It was a fairly lacklustre contest but Kelsall did just about enough to get his arm raised, with two of the three judges scoring it for him to silence the Belfast crowd.
Kelsall made the better start, his awkward movement making it hard for Quinn to settle into a rhythm.
Hailing from Belfast, Quinn had the crowd on his side and held the centre of the ring for the majority but struggled to land anything meaningful in the first half of the fight.
The better shots came from Kelsall, who grew in confidence with each passing round.
Quinn’s corner implored him to throw more punches and he clipped his opponent with a looping right in the sixth but he failed to follow it up.
Kelsall, content to dance in and out of range, doubled up on jabs to keep Quinn at bay and control the fight, but big shots were few and far between.
Sensing a need to chase, Quinn applied some pressure in the eighth and managed to close the distance to land some nice punches and went searching again in the ninth.
Kelsall evaded a straight right and then clipped his opponent with a left-right combination but Quinn finished the round stronger.
An injection of pace in the 11th saw Quinn land a good right but those moments were too few and far between.
Kelsall paraded around the ring with his arms raised for the final 20 seconds of the final round of a bizarre encounter before his win was confirmed.
Murphy awarded TKO win over Turner
Colm Murphy dominated Jack Turner to clinch the vacant Commonwealth silver featherweight championship with a technical knockout win after nine rounds.
Turner had his moments and landed some nice shots early in the fight. He had Murphy rocked with a sharp left hook in the fifth but the relentless nature of what he was facing eventually took its toll.
A cut opened by his right eye in the fourth round and it s likely he was already well behind on the scorecards by then.
Murphy kept the pressure on throughout, even as blood poured over both of Turner’s eyes in the latter stages of the contest, and landed a slick right in the ninth that wobbled his opponent.
The bout was then called off before the final round after a third doctor’s inspection and was ruled a technical knockout as Murphy maintained his unbeaten record.
Earlier, Jadier Herrera proved far too good for Andreas Navarete. Beautiful footwork and slick counters from the southpaw stance were too much for a game Navarete to handle from the off.
Navarete tried to resist and fight back but when a big left hand left him wobbled and in trouble, the referee stepped in to stop the contest with 20 seconds of the first round remaining.
Joe Cooper made light work of Henry Mosquera at middleweight, with the judges scoring it 40-36 in his favour.
Stephen Cairns wasted little time in dispatching Jonatas De Oliviera, ending the lightweight contest after just 56 seconds of the first round with a brutal body shot.
In the first fight of the night, Jack D Turner was not at his best but moved onto 7-0 with a comfortable points win over Darwing Martinez.
Roach retains WBA strap
In the United States on Friday evening, Lamont Roach Jr. battled past challenger Feargal McCrory to retain his WBA junior lightweight belt in his maiden title defence.
Roach knocked his opponent to the canvas three times before the referee stepped in to wave away the fight in the eighth.
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