CONLAN VS MARRIAGA: The STARS Of The UNDERCARD

Written by Jared Parry on 7th August 2022.

On a night that saw Belfast boxing hero return to winning ways in front of a raucous crowd in his hometown against Miguel Marriaga, seven fighters would also be victorious on an undercard made up of some of Ireland's best boxers.

The chief support seemed to leave a bit of a sour taste in the mouth of many viewers. Tyrone McKenna would make his welterweight debut, as he squared off with former British champion, Chris Jenkins. The pair promised a brutal war with each other and they delivered, producing an action-packed ten rounds that were in such close range that they could have been contested in a phone box. Jenkins took control in the second half of the fight as McKenna tired. The sour taste came at the result. The consensus was that Jenkins had done more than enough to win, however, the scorecards read 96-95 and 97-94×2 in favour of McKenna.

Paddy Donovan lived up to his nickname of 'The Real Deal' as he produced a slick boxing display to move to 9-0 against Tom Hill by a shutout decision. Padraig McCrory stepped up to face Marco Antonio Periban and proved that he was ready for it as he would stop Periban in five rounds to retain his WBC International Silver super middleweight title.

Colm Murphy became the BUI Celtic featherweight champion to move to 4-0 against the previously unbeaten Ruadhan Farrell in a fantastic bout between two formerly unbeaten prospects. Olympian Kurt Walker moved to 3-0 as he continued to impress as a pro, defeating Marcos Gabriel Martinez on points. Kieran Molloy makes it two knockouts in two fights, as Molloy stopped Evgenii Vazem with a vicious body shot.

Sean McComb added another win to his record as he defeated Ramiro Blanco. Finally, Fearghus Quinn returned after a year of inactivity to defeat Seamus Devlin over four rounds.