THE HOMECOMING
Conlan gains some more valuable experience with a clear win over Dos Santos
Belfast welcomes back a local hero – the charismatic Michael Conlan
MICHAEL CONLAN returned home to his native Belfast and produced a functional performance to outpoint Adeilson Dos Santos 79-73 in a headline attraction that captured the public’s attention on this Queensberry Promotions card. Bathed in green light, Conlan capped a spine-tingling entrance by leading the SSE Arena crowd in a chorus of Grace with all the proficiency of a spiritual evangelist. His natural abilities shone through on occasions in the main event too, although the eight-rounder was not without moments of discomfort as Dos Santos used his impressive physical attributes to good effect. Scoring referee Phil Edwards was rarely called upon.
Conlan regularly switched from orthodox to southpaw, but it was the portside backhand that worked well throughout what the Top Rank talent described as a six out of 10 performance. Dos Santos had previously lost to Kid Galahad and Jessie Magdaleno and Michael, 26, admitted later that he had been boxing with his rivals’ respective displays in mind. Observers expecting a glorious knockout may have been left slightly perplexed, but that is not Conlan’s modus operandi and the whole post-fight vibe was that of a learning experience.
“I know I could’ve done an awful lot of things better but at the same time I’m learning on the job,” said Conlan, who praised the toughness of his Brazilian foe.
When Conlan’s best work arrived, it came in the form of sweeping body assaults, set up behind a southpaw lead jab, that finally forced the visitor into something that resembled a shell.
Conlan’s trainer, Adam Booth, revealed that he had multiple plans in motion. “There were three different styles. Nice and loose southpaw – long-range playing with the distance, orthodox playing with the distance and teeing up shots, and being on the inside, drum-rolling the punches and actually roughing the dude up. I thought he did all three.”
As expected, Declan Geraghty and Jono Carroll engaged in a bloody slugfest, right up until Geraghty was stopped on his feet by referee Robert Williams, with absolutely nothing left in the tank. The pair met in their native
Dublin, in November 2014, in what turned out to be the Irish Fight of the Year. Carroll won that meeting via disqualification, cue a 12-round grudge rematch.
Geraghty’s talent has never been in question but he neglected the jab and resorted to wild swings that had him blowing hard as early as the third. Declan tasted the canvas in that very round and looked close to finished. Carroll’s calculated body attack and patient pressure kept Geraghty working right up until Mr Williams’ timely intervention at 2-12 of the ninth. Carroll’s face was a mask of blood at the end but his subtle skills, iron chin and infectious personality will keep this story running.
Despite suffering a rocky start, Belfast southpaw Tyrone Mckenna dug deep and pushed Chorley’s Jack Catterall close in their 10-rounder. Hard-hitting Catterall dropped Mckenna late in the second but was also docked a point by referee Steve Gray for hitting Tyrone as he slumped to the canvas. That skewed the scores before Catterall punctured a little more daylight into his lead when Mckenna was felled again in the fifth. Cut on the top of the head and seemingly with little chance of winning, Mckenna fed off the energy of the Belfast crowd to push the tiring Catterall hard down the stretch, losing narrowly by 94-93 for Mr Edwards and Marcus Mcdonnell, while Mr Williams had it 95-91.
Joe Ham travelled into enemy territory in a vacant Celtic superbantam title clash but came away emptyhanded against Derry’s Tyrone Mccullagh. Gorbals grafter Ham landed a flush right hand just before the bell signalled the end of the third and sent a stunned Mccullagh to the canvas. Mccullagh regained control and boxed his way home in this British title eliminator – 97-92 for Mr Gray and 98-92 for both Mr Williams and Mr Edwards. Mr Mcdonnell refereed and neither man will have caused too many sleepless nights for Jazza Dickens or Martin Ward, who contest the vacant British belt on July 27.
In one of three ‘battle of unbeatens’ on the bill, Johnny Coyle outpointed Edinburgh’s Lewis Benson. Referee Hugh Russell Jnr totalled 96-95 in favour of Coyle after a hard-fought clash. Stanfordle-hope southpaw Coyle just about did enough. Belfast banger Lewis
Crocker extended his impressive KO run with a first-round stoppage of Poland’s Adam Grabiec. Crocker slashed home a left hook to the body and Grabiec was wincing in pain as Mr Russell Jnr waved the four-rounder off at 1-19 of the opener.
After Paddy Gallagher’s broken jaw ruled him out, Wembley’s Gary Corcoran had his hands full with Ghanaian sub Victor
Ray Ankrah. John Lowey called the eight-rounder off at 2-34 of the fifth as Ankrah wilted. Stringy Kildare southpaw
Gary Cully used his skills and reach to dominate Barcelona-based Nicaraguan
Reynaldo Cajina, winning 40-36 on Eamonn Magill’s scorecard. Miami-based Cuban Neslan
Machado was all about the right hands and Jose Aguilar – another Barcelonabased Nicaraguan – struggled to cope in the closing stages. Mr Magill awarded “El Pitbull” a 60-54 formality. Mr Magill also gave Belfast’s Padraig
Mccrory a 39-37 win over Pocklington’s Harry Matthews. Taylor Mcgoldrick got tagged a fair bit by Bangor’s Casey Blair but the Belfast man did enough to squeeze a 39-38 victory on Mr Lowey’s card.
Croydon’s Sunny Edwards defeated Nicaragua’s Cristian Narvaez 60-54. Mr Lowey officiated.
THE VERDICT The Belfast crowd are thrilled to witness a victory for their ever-improving local hero.
‘I COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER BUT AT THE SAME TIME I’M LEARNING ON THE JOB’