NEW YORK GOES GREEN
Conlan comfortably wins on St. Paddy’s Day at MSG for the third year in a row, writes Jack Hirsch
Michael Conlan sends his fans home happy once again on St. Paddy’s Day
THOUSANDS gathered on the streets of Manhattan for the yearly St. Patrick’s Day parade, and throughout the weekend bars were full of patrons happily guzzling down pints. But the smell of Belfast was most evident at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater, where for the third year in a row its favourite son, Michael Conlan, was in action. Conlan’s fight capped off a celebratory weekend in which Irish eyes were smiling, as he won a unanimous decision over Ruben Garcia Hernandez that was scored 100-90 across the board by judges Ron Mcnair, Tony Paolillo and Steve Weisfeld. Mike Ortega refereed.
With WWE superstar Finn Bálor serving as the flag-bearer, Conlan’s grand arrival was arguably more entertaining than the bout itself. With the music blaring and the crowd singing, the atmosphere alone put Mexico City’s Hernandez at a disadvantage before the first punch was even thrown. Certainly he fought like a man intimidated, rarely attacking as Conlan comfortably outboxed him the whole way.
Conlan’s footwork was superb. He shifted angles and landed combinations, seeming to take satisfaction in making his opponent miss. Conlan, who likes to alternate between boxing righty and lefty, got caught with a hook while switching in the third. And in the sixth, Hernandez forced Conlan to the ropes and attacked a bit, but otherwise fought timidly.
Conlan landed some hurtful body blows, one of which was flagrantly low in the fifth, but outside of having Hernandez in some trouble for a short time in the eighth, he was content to outbox him. This was Conlan’s show, an attitude Hernandez seemed willing to cede.
The plan, Conlan says, is to return next year on St. Patrick’s Day and box for a world featherweight belt in MSG’S main arena. For now, a more realistic proposition is to be paired with his Olympic nemesis from 2016, Vladimir Nikitin, who beat Juan Tapia over six rounds on the undercard. “Nikitin, I know you’re here,” Conlan announced from the ring afterward. “I need to right a wrong.”
Former WBA welterweight title-holder Luis Collazo, 37, continues to remain relevant, which is no small feat when you consider how long he’s been around. Collazo, from Queens, put himself on the fringes of a world title fight by scoring a split decision win over Samuel Vargas on this Top Rank promotion. Glenn Feldman (96-94) and Frank Lombardi (98-92) saw it for Collazo, while Don Trella (96-94) had it for the Torontobased Colombian Vargas. Charlie Fitch officiated.
“I’ve been doing this for 19 years and I love it,” Collazo said post-fight. Bold words when you looked at his face, which was swollen and cut from an assortment of butts and punches. Yet there was a joy to Collazo’s fighting, as he strategised well and came to the realisation that he could have success on both the inside and out, while Vargas’ key to victory would have to be moving forward at all times. Both banged the body unmercifully, but it was Collazo who controlled the pace most of the time and landed the cleaner punches upstairs. It was a gruelling and entertaining fight. Surprise, shock, disbelief. Choose any or all of those words to describe Paddy Barnes’ split verdict loss to Dallas’ unheralded Oscar Mojica. Barnes was in denial afterward, saying he thought he had won every round. James Pierce had him up 58-56, but Kevin Morgan and John Mckaie ruled for Mojica by the same margin. I had it 57-57, but that is not taking into account Mojica being deprived of a 10-8 round by referee Danny Schiavone, who ruled a slip after Barnes was clearly dropped by a left hook downstairs in the second.
Barnes, like many fighters, struggles to take a punch to the body, having been KO’D by a single blow in his last fight (vs Cristofer Rosales, l ko 4) and hurt badly on numerous occasions in this one. Seeing Barnes’ blood splattered over the ring, Mojica altered his attack to the Belfast boxer’s face.
Barnes, to his credit, fought through adversity and did well in the second half of the contest, but it was a bitter defeat for the three-time Irish Olympian, one which had him talking of possible retirement.
THE VERDICT The Conlan-nikitin fight is likely to happen sooner rather than later.