By William Mackay: Unbeaten heavyweight contender and former British and Commonwealth champion Tyson Fury (18-0, 13 KO’s) stopped his hand-picked opponent 40-year-old Martin Rogan (14-3, 7 KO’s) in the 5th round to capture the Irish heavyweight title on Saturday night in the Odyssey Arena in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Fury dropped Rogan with a hard right hook to the body to get the stoppage at the very end of the round. Rogan got up but the towel was thrown in to get the fight halted. Rogan looked exhausted, like a three fighter that had gone two rounds further than his aging body would allow.
Looking to keep Rogan guessing, Fury started off the fight in a southpaw stance and immediately started eating right hands. Fury did little in the first two rounds, mostly slapping with his shots and pawing with his jabs. Rogan landed some nice right hands in the 1st and 2nd rounds.
Fury turned things around in the 3rd, knocking Rogan down with a left hand to the head that sent Rogan stumbling to the canvas. He got up and seemed to be okay, but he looked kind of shaken up by the knockdown. Earlier in the round, Rogan had landed a big right hand to the head of Fury.
In the 4th round, Fury controlled the action with quick shots and fancy footwork. Fury was really light on his feet and looked to be enjoying himself, as he was now fighting with energy that he didn’t have in the first two rounds.
Overall, it was an okay performance by Fury. He beat an old fighter that had no business being in the same ring with him and he won the Irish strap that he’s been talking about endlessly. Was it a great performance? No. A heavyweight like David Price would have likely gotten Rogan out of there in a round or two, but Fury doesn’t have that same kind of power so it takes him longer. The performance wasn’t good enough for you to want to see Fury in with the Klitschkos. He’s not ready for them.
***
Unbeaten middleweight Chris Eubank Jr. (3-0, 2 KO’s) picked up his second knockout of his career with a 4th round TKO over a game but limited Paul Allison (5-1-1, 1 KO’s). Eubank Jr. hurt the 22-year-old Allison with a series of shots while he was near the ropes in the 4th. Eubank Jr. then poured it on until the referee Terry O’Conner stepped in and halted the fight after one particular big jarring left hand snapped Allison’s head upwards. Had the referee not stepped in at the moment, Allison likely would have been viciously knocked out.
Eubank Jr., 22, showed good hand speed and combinations in the early going. However, he seemed uncomfortable with taking shots from Allison, especially with Allison’s left hooks. Eubank Jr. did a lot of backing up when Allison was on the attack and showed little in the way of defense. Indeed, Eubank Jr’s defense was really his offense. When he started taking some hits in the 1st round, Eubank Jr. came alive and opened up with a flurry of shots that backed Allison to the ropes and briefly shut down his offense. In the 3rd round, Allison landed a big left hook that knocked Eubank Jr. back against the ropes.
Overall, I was mildly impressed with Eubank Jr. I like his hand speed and combination punching, but he’s not a big puncher and he’s going to have to do things the hard way by pounding out a lot of decisions to get victories. I also don’t like to see how troubled Eubank Jr. was when getting hit. He shouldn’t have been so distressed by someone that didn’t have much going for him. I can only imagine what Eubank Jr’s reaction would have been had he been in with a good fighter. Maybe he can improve if he does sparring or something but I’m not sure.
***
Former Commonwealth welterweight champion John O’Donnell (25-2, 11 KO’s) defeated Martin Welsh (10-3, 1 KO’s) by an eight round points decision. The final score was 78-74. Welsh, 31, has now lost three out of his last four fights. O’Donnell, 26, was coming off of a 12 round decision loss to Craig Watson last year in February.
Comments are closed.