What a Night; Macklin vs Campas. With Pics n Vid

[donnydarkoIRL]

By Coincidence I ran into a gym mate at the event.
Believe it or not, between the two guys in this photograph is shared......3 Irish amateur boxing Titles, One Irish Kickboxing Title, One Four Nations Boxing Title, One British and rish Military and Universaties Cahmpionships and a World Under 21 Kickboxing Championship!!!!!!!!!
Good Goin I think!

[donnydarkoIRL]

In a change to the schedule, Andrew Murrays bout was drawn forward. This exciting Light Welter was due to face James Gorman, but in yet aother change was opposed by England's Leonard Lothian.
This highly entertaining scrap was stopped in the 3rd with Lothian failing to leave his corner for the fourth round.
Murray improves to 10-0-0 with 4 Ko's and impressed many in attendance.
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[donnydarkoIRL]

In Perhaps the most interesting bout of the night, hot prospect "Mike" Perez faced off against Tomasz Zeprzalka.
There are a number of potent ingredients which contribute to the marketability of this young man. The first is his weight; Heavyweight, in addition he is Cuban; and a highly succesful amateur, now trained by Nicolas Cruz Hernandez.
Having adopted Cork, Ireland as his home, this youing man is extremely popular already and hype already surrounds his presence. His extremely lean frame, stands below the six foot mark and in contrast to his ring persona, in conversation Perez is a very modest, amiable young man.
In the ring, he uses his size as a small heavy to operate in a slick defence and he systematically beat the much larger Pole, putting him to the canvas several times on route to a casual points victory.

[donnydarkoIRL]

Circling the ringside area once again I encountered one of Ireland's premier pugilistic talents in Bernard Dunne.
Promising a sucesful comeback on April 12th and being extremely accomodating to all questions put to him, Bernard is a guy that deserves all of the fan support and prootion he receives, a truely nice guy.

[donnydarkoIRL]

After this Photo, Bernard like a true boxing fan cheered on a gym compatriot, Leon Senior to his second victory.
Baring more than a passing resemblance to current Middleweight King Kelly Pavlik, this Light Heavyweight (listed as a SuperMiddleweight on boxrec.) showed flashes of work which illustrated the potential to produce a good craftsman.
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[donnydarkoIRL]

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

[donnydarkoIRL]

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)