Boxing News

As one of the appetisers on last weekend’s delicious menu of title fights, a fine domestic card was presented by Brian Peter’s promotions in Castlebar, Co. Mayo, deep in the West of Ireland. With a fine selection of local fighters on show and a host of international opposition, the arena filled early and a warm atmosphere sparked in anticipation of the evening’s event.

The Breaffy House International Sports Hotel and Resort played host to the festivities. It was an appropriate venue, often employed by Ireland’s best athletes as part of their mental preparation for high level competition, the bill’s headliner Bernard Dunne was in need of some psychological repair following the assassination of his reputation, public persona and ego last year, at the hands of the malicious Spaniard Kiko Martinez.

In his return to the ring, Dunne was opposed by Felix Machado, a former super flyweight title holder and a highly experienced campaigner. Super bantamweight Bernard Dunne had once again captured the attention of the Irish public and was coming to the West of Ireland to attempt to prove a point.

Brian Peters was visible by the ring prior to the events initiation, chatting to the patrons and surveying the arena for any potential details which needed attention. However, the beautifully prepared arena needed little more organisation.

The fighters in turn were preparing with an equal level of concentration, Adnan Amar readied himself in the dressing rooms with his trainer Brendan Ingle, Michael Sweeney smiled and chatted with his training team, Artus Jashkul nodded his head in time with the music pumping through his headphones and later Bernard Dunne paced between the dressing rooms and the arena‘s entrance. Other fighters meandered through the meticulously organised rows of chairs, many in an almost meditative state, mentally preparing to enter into hostilities later in the evening. More…

Saturday, March 29. For the first time in his career Paul McCloskey was taking charge of a ship, one which belonged to a fleet of Brian Peters’ promoted boxing events taking place in recent weeks.

McCloskey was calm in the build up. One assumed that with his first big occasion looming ahead of him, the Derry man would have displayed some nerves or apprehension. Instead, the week preceding the fight presented a Paul McCloskey who smiled politely at the fights mention and mingled easily with the press.

Opposing him, Cesar Bazan, a fighter who had been a world title holder at lightweight, fighting with passion in each bout and in the Mexican spirit, was not going to surrender, even at a time when his greatest achievements are memories now overshadowed by his losses to greater, more notable opposition.

Indeed, his opposition had been well documented in the fightʼs promotion. With over half a century of fights on his record, Bazan had never ran from or alluded any opponent. His record contains a couplet of losses to two truly great fighters in fellow Mexican Jose Luis Castillo and the Puerto-Rican Welterweight sensation, Miguel Cotto.

For Paul McCloskey, this elevation in the level of competition would serve as his certification. With a successful result, McCloskeyʼs professional apprenticeship would be complete and he could begin to advance into the fistic world.

The fight itself was a joy for any journalist. Every round was incredibly similar and if one were to pen a detailed report of the first round, the author could easily pass it off as a report of any of the nine rounds that followed. More…

As Professional Boxing enjoys a long overdue resurgence and our current champions finally receive the exposure they deserve, there are other men who anonymously prepare to become champions themselves. These men are the less famed and less credited amateur boxers who toil at their trade without payment or recognition.

As the final qualifiers draw to a close, the men fortunate enough to have qualified, begin to undergo intense training in anticipation of their opportunity in the Beijing Olympic Games this year.

With boxing enjoying a huge influx of new fans and much of the attention being bestowed upon the glorious profession welterweights, middleweights and bantamweights, it is not surprising that the amateur game has been lost from the radar slightly and there is a lack of knowledge on Olympic Boxing.

However, in the hearts of many, these games mean as much as a world titles in the paid ranks and the rules, requirements and demands of the competition have been studied in acute detail. This after all, is the pinnacle of amateur boxing.

First introduced to the games in the St. Louis Olympics back in 1904, boxing had a turbulent honeymoon phase, being disallowed in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. It was 1920 before the event became a permanent fixture in the games, but since that time, the event has produced volumes of itʼs own heroes, idols and legends.

Qualification for the tournament is a hotly contested privilege, to be earned rather than won. Regional tournament in Europe, Asia, the Americas, Africa and Oceania all serve as obstacle-laden routes toward their dream destination; the Olympic Games. More…

© Allan Donnellan / Saddo Boxing

In 1991, Dublin’s National Boxing Stadium hosted it’s first professional show, in which the legendary Steve Collins defeated Danny Morgan in three rounds. The Stadium has enjoyed an illustrious run since that December; fighters such as Jim Rock, the Hyland brothers, Bernard Dunne and recently, John Duddy, have all become Irish heroes through the exposure they have received applying their craft in the country’s premier boxing venue.

In Matthew Macklin, the stadium may well have found a new darling.

The timing of this card was perhaps unfortunate in that it coincided with Ireland’s Easter Holiday weekend. This fact ensured that the crowd never threatened to fill the National Stadium. However, promoter Brian Peters should have been pleased with the night, as the undersized, but warm, vocal crowd cheered the native fighters home in what was an supremely successful night for the Irish. More…