Go for Croke on Ali 50th..
KIERANCUNNINGHAM
ON APRIL 15, 1985, Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns touched gloves and got it on for the middleweight championship of the world.
Hagler was the undisputed champion. Hearns was boxing’s rising star. Bob Arum was the promoter and he billed it as ‘The War’.
That bout is regarded as one of the best of all time, Hagler coming out on top after three brutal rounds. But it is due to the opening round that the fight’s place in history was secured.
It was fast and frenetic, tough and tactical and the closing minute was just a succession of heavy blows from both men.
Harry Mullan, the late Derryman who was editor of Boxing News, was at ringside. He saw it all during his career but spoke of having felt he was going to have a heart attack due to the
brutality of the round.
It took place in Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, one of the two great boxing cathedrals in America. The other is Madison Square Garden in New York.
On Saturday night, two thirtysomething women from Ireland and Puerto Rico served up their own version of ‘The War’ for the ages.
If you watch nothing else from that fight, look at the clip of the last 30 seconds. Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano had nothing left to give at the end of 10 brutal rounds but they reached beyond the limits of endurance.
When we waited for the verdict, we were brought back in time.
Brought back 10 years to an arena 3,500 miles away in London and that interminable wait at the end of Taylor’s Olympic final with Sofya Ochigava.
At the final bell, the Irishwoman had turned to her coach and father, Pete, and mouthed a three-word question — ‘Is it me?’.
That was the peak of Taylor’s boxing life. Until Saturday night in New York.
Again, we wondered during the wait after the final bell. A split decision but the two words we all wanted to hear — “and still’’.
In the fifth round, Serrano took Taylor to a place where no fighter had ever taken her before. The blood that poured down the Irishwoman’s face was the most visible evidence.
Her comeback was everything we’ve come to know about her. Brave, bold, audacious, exhilarating.
Irish boxing’s image has taken a pummelling because of the Daniel Kinahan connection. This felt like a rebirth.
There hasn’t been a major show in Dublin for years because of security concerns.
This summer marks 50 years since Ali fought in Croke Park.
His daughter, Laila, was in Madison Square Garden on Saturday and called to Taylor’s dressing room afterwards, embracing her warmly and giving her congratulations.
Nothing would be more fitting than celebrating the anniversary of her father’s fight in Croke Park than Taylor topping a bill there. Make it happen.