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Although not entirely full the stadium adopted an enjoyable and warm atmosphere as the main event approached.
At Ringside I was winged by Macklins father, a bundle of nerves, but eternally a gentleman.....
A familiar figure shouldered past me....Wait was that:o
Main event time....
The crowd, not capacity, but of a nice size made plenty of noise....
Celebrities were announced, Dave "Boy" McCauley, Bernard Dunne, Jamie Moore, Nicolas Cruz, Ricky Hatton and plenty more....(video to insert later)
Chants rose from the crowd, Macklin Wonderland became a chant, the crowd whirled into a frenzy as acklin and Campas entered to two contrasting ballads Born i the USA and the fields of Athenry (video to insert later)
Macklin started of hot, focusing on the jab...It hadn't been hype or lies, he came here to box not brawl, the quick jab on the outside, a good uppercut on the inside and improved head movement were all immediatly apparent.
Great pics Donny. Nice to see Ricky made the trip over to Ireland to support his pal.
It seems from your's, Micks and Prides pics that most boxer are incredibly friendly and happy to get their pictures taken with you guys.
Says a lot about the friendly inclusive nature of the sport I think that most of the stars are so approachable and friendly,
Good pics!
It seemed early on that Campas was rying to draw matt inside, McGirt constantly encouraged Macklin to stick top the outside and jab, yet Campas' always threatened....
Campas having lost the initial three rounds put a lot of effort into the middle rounds and Macklin did well to stick to McGirts strategy of moving and jabbing, these rounds took a toll on both men and amazingly when hit Campas laughed fiercely daring Macklin to engage further.
"Smoke" still lingered in the air from the dry Ice used for the fighters entrances. Accompanied by the cocophany of sound supplied by the relatively small crowd, one could easily mistake the national stadium for any dingy club in the 50's. The fact that the action in the ring had the crowd completely enthralled erely added to the atmosphere.
Campas invested heavily in the rounds between 5 and 8. The referee had little trouble with the two who were simply keen to fight and apart from one punch that landed after the bell it was a clean yet brutal affair.
The Championship rounds heralded some tense moments....
Macklin's face burned red with effort, Campas sought to up the tempo. Mcklins father and I screamed at Macklin to stick to the jab and move style which had been so succesful. It seemed we were the only ones as the crowd bayed for a big finish.
Macklins second wind arrived in the eighth/ninth....is movement returned to it's best and the jab became super efective.
As the fighters agony ended Campas seemed as happy as Macklin, he paraded around the ring as if he anticipated victory. I reassured Macklin Sr. that Matthew had taken the fight. He had been too slick for the aged warrior, he had boxed a man who could manage most brawlers and had been highly succesful.....
As the scores were announced (98-95) Macklin....the crowd once again broke into chants. Smiles were excahnged between the promoter Brian Peters and trainers, McGirt looked satisfied and a smile was plastered along the battle scarred face of Ireland's Matthew Macklin.
I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the night.
The fights were entertaining, the crowd warm and the fighters friendly.
I have to thank Jane W and Curtis McC.
They were more help than I could have imagined.
Watch the front page for the write up.
Oh.....Big up to Brian Peters too....not only did he put on a great show, he treated press as VIP's.
Will add the vids later....
I've got some Perez rounds with knockdowns.,
some Murray rounds,
Macklin & Camapas entrance,
Some of the Dub chants and some footage of Hatton being mobbed by fans and making time for every single one.
Oh and also, I'll be heading to Dunne's return April 12th in Castlebar, ounty Mayo in Ireland on April 12th.
I'll be geting even more pics and hook ups with fighters atrthat fights o say tuned and I'll come through with some good stuff for everybody!
Wow, my spelling gets bad this time of night!
hi Donny , How are you doing my friend? ;D Well i see that took some nice Pics man......i really like it ;D , i took somes too , but was too small . apparently was a great fight , did you see it?.....
Hey Macho!
Yeah I was there at ringside.
Thats me with Ricky Hatton, Jim Rock and Bernard Dunne.
It was a very good fight
Woooow man , I'm sure that you should really enjoyed it man....that is really emotionally , i know it......;D
Yeah it was really good, I really enjoyed it as did my girlfriend, but now I can't wait til the next one!