Hitmen didn’t stun Corcoran
BOXING: One was dressed as a woman, blonde wig and winter jacket.
Two others donned police uniforms, but their balaclavas instantly arose suspicion.
When they pulled out AK-47 rifles and burst into the lobby of The Regency Hotel in Dublin, the weights of the boxers on scales mattered zilch.
Fighters, promoters, media and children scurried amid the gunfire coming from a six-man squad of disguised killers on February 5 last year.
When the carnage ceased, one of Ireland’s most notable crime figures, David Byrne, lay dead. Two others were wounded.
Gary Corcoran, the man fighting Australia’s Jeff Horn in Brisbane on Wednesday, somehow avoided injury amid the gang hit, having weighed in with his opponent Danny Butler moments earlier.
“Gary had finished weighing in and was down at reception when it all happened,” Corcoran’s trainer Frank Greaves said.
“We didn’t see anything at the time. Police cordoned off the entire area and the hotel was locked down for four hours, so we couldn’t get out.”
The bout was cancelled, but rescheduled six weeks later.
Corcoran, 27, a gypsy who lives in a caravan with his wife and child in London, brushed off the horror of the previous month to put on a boxing clinic, beating Butler unanimously over 10 rounds.
“I genuinely don’t think the shooting affected him at all. His upbringing is just a tougher and grittier upbringing,” Greaves said.
Corcoran’s reaction to the deadly shooting backs up Greaves’ theory.
“You just get over it, it happened on that day, that’s life,” Corcoran said. “I don’t like to see things like that, but you get on with it.”
The bout was so hastily arranged it wasn’t televised and no footage exists.
This, Corcoran’s camp says, is where Horn’s people have made a huge error. “That was head and shoulders Gary’s best performance to date, and it wasn’t televised so Horn has no idea what he’s in for and what Gary can really do,” Greaves said.
Nicknamed “Hellraiser”, Corcoran (17-1, 7KO) has a similar record to Horn (17-0-1, 11KO), who sensationally defeated Manny Pacquiao in July to claim the WBO welterweight title he’ll defend at the Convention and Exhibition Centre.
“This world title shot has come a year earlier than we expected if I’m being honest, but it’s not a year too soon, he’s ready,” Greaves said.
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