The 2007 National Intermed-iate Championships will conclude this Friday night with finals in all weight categories at the National Stadium in Dublin.
Twin brothers Graham and Gavin Keating, both from the St Saviour’s OBA club in Dublin, will meet in the featherweight decider after both chalked up semi-final victories at the South Circular Road venue last weekend.
Graham beat Austin Sinclair 8–3 in his 57kg semi-final, while Gavin followed that up with a fourth-round stoppage of Paul Nolan.
Bantamweight boxer Daniel Coughlin was the first to advance to next weekend’s deciders with a 7–1 victory over Cathal O’Connor in the first bout of Friday evening. Mark Carlyle progressed with a convincing win over Jonathan Dowling, and Bishop Kelly ace Niall Ginley booked his spot in the light welterweight final courtesy of a 26–4 victory over Tony Bates.
Brian Brosnan became the second boxer from the Olympic boxing club to make it through to the finals, followed by Donegal’s Stephen O’Reilly, after a 28–2 victory over Stewart Edgeworth.
Danny Tourish was 6–0 down after the first two rounds of his light heavyweight clash with Ross Skelton, but staged a remarkable comeback to claim victory.
Phelim Halligan also found himself trailing at the bell for the end of the second, but levelled in the third before having his hand raised in victory.
William Byrne edged Cathal Barry by just one point to march into the heavyweight final, and Eamon Higgins forced Thomas Myres into two standing counts, but also took one himself, before the fight was stopped in the UCC man’s favour in the third.
Jamie Kavanagh got Saturday’s semi-finals off to an up-tempo start with a well deserved victory over Niall Murray. Kavanagh was always ahead in this bout, reserving some of his best work for the second round en route to setting up a 64kg final with Niall McGinley next weekend.
Christopher Rice stopped Nicholas Finn in the second round of their light flyweight contest after some furious exchanges forced Finn into two standing counts.
The lightweight last four clash between Cork’s John McDonagh and Limerick’s Ger Casey was a repeat of the recent Munster Intermediate final which Casey won by a two-point margin.
And Casey, from the Our Lady of Lourdes club in the Treaty City, had the upper hand again in the national decider taking all four rounds before being declared winner. Casey will now meet 2007 Irish U21 champion John Murray in the 60kg final after the Wexford man produced a convincing win over Ciaran Keogh.
Meanwhile, Glen Murray impressed in the 54kg decider, restricting the brave Michael Kelly to two points while racking up 15 of his own, while Mark McNamara became the second Limerick boxer to secure his finals place courtesy of a composed display against Anthony McConnell.
The Belfast light welterweight took the first round, but McNamara landed some clean shots to take rounds two and three before adding another four points to his winning total in the fourth.
McNamara advances to face Shane McKeown, who halted the Irish U21 in the third. Boyle was four points in front when the bout was stopped after he took two standing counts.
Light middleweight Michael Collins staged a thrilling comeback to deny Gary O’Sullivan, who was two points ahead going in the final 30 seconds of a top-class showdown.
However, Collins pulled out all the stops to reach his second major final this year against an opponent who didn’t do himself any favours, after receiving a public warning for holding in the third.
Tom Murray became the third Cork boxer to bow out of the tournament after he suffered a reversal to Martin Collins – a cousin of Michael Collins – following a cagey cruiserweight four-rounder.
Irish U21 super heavyweight champion David Joyce will meet UCC’s Eamon Higgins in the 91kg+ final after he stopped Thomas Hardwick in the second round in the last semi-final of the evening. Hardwick took two standing counts in the second.
The 2007 National Intermediate Championship finals will be held on Friday 7 December. Boxing begins at 7.30pm, with the weigh-ins scheduled for 8am–9am and 12pm-1pm on the same day.
In pro news, Wayne McCullough believes that Kiko Martinez just didn’t want to fight him and reckons that the promoters owe it to him to set up another fight with the Spanish European super bantamweight champ.
Las Vegas-based McCull-ough was due to meet Martinez in a Team Magee and Dennis Hobson promoted non-title fight at The King’s Hall in Belfast last Saturday night.
But McCullough’s homecoming was shelved amid farcical scenes after the Alicante-born Spaniard tipped the scales one-and-three-quarter pounds over the agreed 8st 12lbs limit.
To compound the farce, Martinez made absolutely no attempt to try and work off the excess and, according to McCullough, just plonked himself on a couch doing nothing until the scales were closed and the fight called off.
McCullough said: “To say it was embarrassing would be an understatement. I approached this fight in a very professional manner and the least I expected was that my opponent would do the same.
“But he turned up overweight and then made no attempt to try and lose the weight; he just sat there drinking water. Even if he went for a jog or took a sauna it would have been something.
“To tell you the truth, I think he was afraid to fight me, and I also think he is still a bit stunned that he actually beat Bernard Dunne a few months ago.
“But leaving that aside, you would think that a European champion would be more professional in his approach. But sadly it wasn’t to be, and it was embarrassing.”
McCullough and his wife and manager Cheryl are due to travel back to Las Vegas today, but the former WBC bantamweight champ would meet Martinez in the future – if there was something on the line.
McCullough added: “I think that the promoters owe it to me to set up another fight with Martinez, and this time he will hopefully make the weight as agreed.
“I would fight him anywhere in Ireland, either Belfast or Dublin, it doesn’t really matter to me, but I would like to fight for some sort of title.
“Maybe a WBC international belt would be the way to go, who knows... either way there would have to be something on the line.”
Meanwhile, unbeaten Derry middleweight John Duddy will meet veteran London puncher Howard Eastman at The King’s Hall next Saturday night in his 23rd professional fight.
Thirty-six-year-old Eastman has won 42 from 47 and is seen as the biggest test yet for 28-year-old New York-based Duddy, who is using the fight as a stepping stone toward a world title shot.
