Ringside Boxing Report: Andy Murray vs. Oisin Fagan

It is assuring that in the absence of the names Dunne, Lee, Macklin and Duddy, a high quality and entertaining fight card can be presented in Dublin’s National Stadium.

On Saturday night, promoter Brian Peters used a brace of national title bouts and a number of fresh young fighters to ride the wave of popularity pugilism has been enjoying in this country.

The night was obviously engineered to enhance the profiles of two specific fighters; featherweight Patrick Hyland and lightweight Andrew Murray.

Mr. Peters should have been well pleased with the result as the crowd left thoroughly satisfied with their night’s indulgence. The lightweights took centre stage first with two names highly familiar to the Irish boxing public.

With thirty two professional bouts to his record, Oisin Fagan had peddled his personal brand of rugged warfare to the great pleasure of audiences both European and American. The younger Murray embodied a sleeker more educated style of boxing, arriving to the ring with an unblemished seventeen fight record with both European Union and Irish Titles.

The noted contrast in styles and backgrounds posed this fight as one of the most desirable of domestic Irish fights on the table.

Having both arrived below the lightweight limit the previous day, their arrival to the ring was met with enthusiastic cheers and generous applause.

Fagan was visibly more nervous, pacing the ring and exuding a nervous energy reminiscent of Robbie Peden before his fight with Marco Antonio Barrera. Murray seemed unfazed with the task presented to him and the referee’s instructions were administered cordially and without incident.

The opening round saw Murray open with an accurate jab and the height differential was immediately apparent. Fagan quickly applied his traditional gunslinging approach, crouching away from the jab and firing wide hooks with murderous intent. The sheer aggression of Fagan compensated for the disparity in skills and resulted in a relatively even first round.

The early going saw Murray operate exclusively on the backfoot, demonstrating a savvy defence and nice combinations from distance. The fight was fought in a professional manner, both fighters adhering strictly to the rules and refusing to clinch when at close quarters.

Murray’s application of the fundamentals meant that Fagan began to miss quite frequently, which resulted in Fagan became less eager to throw with reckless abandon. Murray allowed Fagan to take the initiative, walking him into his longer combinations, often punctuated with a left hook to the body or piercing Fagan’s guard with a right uppercut.

The fourth saw Fagan attempting to renew his energy, but Murray managed to turn his opponent and began to press Fagan, planting his feet for the first time. The resultant was a notable mouse beneath Fagan’s eye and a dash of blood from the nose. As the combinations accumulated, Fagan’s future seemed etched with pain but he did not seem in any immediate danger.

However, the fifth began with an even greater vigour, a four punch combination found the liver and jaw of Fagan and the Cavan man seemed to be shifting up a gear. With Fagan’s eye swelling and Murray investing further combinations, referee David Irving stepped between the fighter,s denying Fagan further punishment.

Although Fagan later expressed dissatisfaction with the decision, there was no questioning the logic as Fagan had taken quite enough and Murray was still incredibly fresh.

As a featherweight, Patrick Hyland has been building momentum for quite some time. The young Tallaght man had forged an unbeaten eighteen fight record and at 5’ 8’’, he towered over his opponent Mickey Coveney and was expected to extend his winning record.

However, it was Patrick Hyland’s will and determination that was extended as Coveney utilised a tight guard and and awkward southpaw stance to make this an extremely testing fight.

An optimistic start from Hyland saw him deposit the first round with the more flamboyant boxing and greater variety. Coveney reacted well, disrupting Hyland’s natural rhythm with a high guard, competent jab and consistent work on the inside. Yet it was Hyland himself that made this fight difficult.

His negligence to keep his left foot outside of Coveney’s southpaw stance and his complacency on the inside allowed the Londoner to make scoring bursts on the ropes and even land his short jab from the outside.

Hyland did not seem troubled by his opponent’s exertions but frustrated and with his speed seemingly diminished, he switched to southpaw in the sixth session. This tactic rewarded some success but Coveney doggedly chased his cause.

Hyland greeted the seventh as a new day, finally seizing the initiative. A rapid flurry to the body was quickly accompanied by a stiff one-two and suddenly Hyland could do no wrong. A miscellany of straight punches saw Coveney to the canvas and despite his best efforts, he was staggered badly shortly after he returned to his feet.

The referee intervened and Hyland earned an educational victory. Hyland certainly made mistakes on the route to victory, but having successfully defended his Irish and IBO International titles, he will draw a wealth of experience from this fight and it may serve highly beneficial as look forward into 2010.

The undercard saw a number of entertaining fights delight the fans; Coleman Barrett outpointed Colin Kenna despite tasting the canvas in the second round. His victory will set up a meeting with the more widely known Irish heavyweight Martin Rogan.

Anthony Fitzgerald defeated Ciaran Healy for the Irish super middleweight title in an untidy but entertaining scrap. Overall, it was a a good card. Having seen the meeting of Murray and Fagan, one can only hope that Brian Peters attempts to set up another salivating domestic matchup with any combination of middleweights Duddy, Macklin and Lee.