LAST GOODBYE

Jacob Kilbride sees Tommy Coyle bid farewell to the sport before the show

THE action in the ring came somewhat second as Hull paid testament to the career of Tommy Coyle.

The former Commonwealth lightweight champion had his last fight at Madison Square Garden in 2019, but he was given a send-off at a packed-out Bonus Arena via a video message from some of the sport’s biggest names shortly after giving a speech about his career, while an auction raised money for the Tommy Coyle Foundation.

The now-retired Coyle remains involved in the sport as a trainer and it was his young charge Connor Coghill who triumphed in the main event of the Steve Wood bill over Mexico’s Christian Lopez Flores.

Boxing for the first time in 20 months, Coghill worked stylishly out of his southpaw stance and rarely conceded a shot through his sharp head movement.

The Hull favourite picked off Flores with smart single shots but sustained attacks were limited until the sixth and last round, when a flush one-two rocked Flores and drew the loudest cheer of the evening.

Andy Brook, the evening’s referee, had Coghill a 60-54 winner.

The Ricky Hatton-trained Ibrahim Nadim won by the same margin against Romanian

Stefan Nicolae, but the Keighley man had far less success in a scrappy bout that never really caught fire.

Hull pair Sonny Taylor and Hash Reham were also victorious.

The former whipped in a series of body shots from the off against Cameroon’s

Christian Donfack and it was a thudding left hook that saw the African pause before eventually dropping to one knee in round two.

Donfack failed to beat the count just as the bell rang at 3-00 to a few boos.

Reham meanwhile showed plenty of patience and class for a debutant and took a thoroughly deserved 40-36 decision over Ghanaian Benjamin Lamptey.