Ulster and Ireland news round up by Steve Wellings Jan 28th 2008

American-based Billy Walsh was crowned the new Irish welterweight champion on Saturday night in Cork with a tight 95-94 verdict over James Gorman. Gorman appeared to drop Walsh in the final session but the fact it was not counted as a knockdown cost the East Belfast fighter as a 10-8 round would have handed him victory. However, the contest was heralded as fight of the night which was no surprise as Gorman always gives value for money and a rematch with Andy Murray will be the next target back at Gorman's natural light-welterweight limit. Heavyweight Scott Belshaw returned after eight months missing through a career threatening injury to stop Latvian Alexandre Borhovs in three rounds. Belshaw dropped Borhovs in the opening round but the Eastern European survived before feeling the heavy artillery again in the third and being unable to take anymore. A mixed undercard saw Cuban exile Mike Perez open his professional account with a predictable first round KO of Jevgenijs Stamburskis. Southpaw Perez has signed for a campaign in Ireland with Gary Hyde and will be trained by Nicholas Cruz Hernandez. Patrick Hyland made it nine wins straight as the Dublin featherweight outpointed Romanian Gheorghe Ghiompirica over eight rounds. Gary O'Sullivan became one of only a few men to stop Peter Dunn when the referee intervened in the sixth round and Jon O'Brien won over four rounds against experienced Paul Bonson at Cruiserweight. Sad news from the world of amateur boxing as Lisburn ABC and County Antrim coach Paddy Burns died suddenly. Burns had worked for 25 years in the area; helping train countless amateur stars and current pros like Scott Belshaw. It was more shocking given the fact Paddy had been working a corner as usual the night before and will be sadly missed. The funeral has already taken place. Paul McCloskey gets the biggest test of his career in Limerick next weekend as he takes on decent Mexican Manuel Garnica in a match that is a far cry from his last outing against faded Tontcho Tontchev. Trainer John Breen is equally as pleased at the choice of opponent “Garnica is vastly more experienced than Paul. He has mixed in the big league with the likes of Gabriel Ruelas, Lazcano and Maussa so he won't be worried about Paul McCloskey.” Garnica recently extended prospect Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley over ten rounds and Bradley was a decorated US amateur star. McCloskey, the laid back southpaw from Dungiven will go someway to revealing his potential with an impressive display. "It's a great opportunity for Paul to show his class and potential." added Breen.

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Great Article. Jan 30th 2008, 04:45:19 by gkt999 Another good round up Steve. Keep up the great writting. Nice to see good coverage of the Irish small hall shows. It looks like it might not be the end of the talk about the Walsh v Gorman fight. Many people that where in Cork are talking about the fight as being nominated for fight of the year. Many are liking it to be as good as or better than Gatti v Ward 2002/2003. A lot of the coaches and boxer present reckoned that the Walsh/Gorman fight was better than Gatti/Ward. Can't wait to get the DVD myself.   RE: Irish boxing Jan 29th 2008, 13:19:23 by steve_wellings Thanks for the comments ardybo and i am equally as glad the esteemed editor exonerated me from blame with his title choices. "Steve insisted this was 'politically incorrect' or some such liberal hogwash" To have these comments attributed to me is utterly libellous and the lawyers have been informed :-) Seriously, i suppose in the long run it's a subject left well alone but as long as the article is readable and someone enjoys it then long may it continue!! Regards - Steve   Irish boxing Jan 29th 2008, 12:16:09 by ardybo PUNCHING PADDIES LOL   Irish boxing Jan 29th 2008, 11:31:35 by ardybo Great article, but your title is a bit bizarre. Irish boxing which configurates both Northern and southern Ireland would seem more apt. (Ed. comments: That's my fault. I'm an ignorant bastard. I was going to call it 'Punching Paddies' but Steve insisted this was 'politically incorrect' or some such liberal hogwash. I'll call the next one 'Irish boxing which configurates both Northern and southern Ireland' which is, I concede, much more apposite. :-) )