Undefeated Tyrone southpaw “Fearless” Feargal McCrory is set for his Madison Square Garden debut on Nov. 9, on the Callum “King” Walsh--Ismael Villarreal undercard.
McCrory, 14-0 with seven KOs, tackles Russian-born Brooklyn resident Nikolai Buzolin [9-6-1, 5 KOs] in a scheduled six-round lightweight contest. It will be McCrory’s first fight in New York and fourth straight States-side.
“He's very game, he hits hard [and] I expect a tricky night,” McCrory sized up the 5-foot-seven Buzolin, who at age 36 is five years his senior. “But we're preparing for whatever he has. he's good.”
Buzolin turned pro in 2010 in Russia and holds a TKO win over Clones native Larry Fryers at the Barclays Center in April 2018.
McCrory, who had hernia surgery in Philadelphia over the summer and returned to the gym back home in August with his Belfast-based trainer Daniel Boyle, declared himself in tip top shape two weeks before his Garden bow.
He’s been training hard under Colin Morgan at the latter’s Bout Fight Club on Fulton St. in lower Manhattan.
“I feel great,” said McCrory. “My weight right now is perfect. If I had to, I could make weight tomorrow. Sparring’s been good. Everything’s where it needs to be [and] right now, we’re just going to be putting the final touches on over the next two weeks.”
He said as memorable as fighting at the famous Garden will be, “it's important that I perform and I don't get too caught up in where the fight is taking place or anything like that because you know at the end of the day, I have a job to do.”
McCrory shouldn’t be short of support, given the New York metro area’s enthusiastic Irish community and up to 30 family and friends flying in from Ireland.
“There’ll also be people coming from Philadelphia, even as far away as San Francisco – so it’s a great honor to have so much support this far away from home. I'm very lucky to have the support of the Irish community.”
Tickets for McCrory—Buzolin are available from Legends Bar at 6 West 33rd St. in Manhattan [212.967.7792].
In his last fight, last April, McCrory decked hard-hitting Eduardo Pereira Dos Reis four times in the opening three rounds before referee Harvey Dock stopped the beatdown at 2:06 of the third stanza in Philadelphia.
McCrory was a four-division Irish national amateur champion with titles in the bantamweight, super bantamweight, featherweight and light welterweight divisions. He represented Ireland internationally, fighting in tournaments in Ukraine, Germany and Greece among other nations.
He made his pro debut in Nov. 2015, stopping Hungarian Zsolt Schmidt in the first round at Belfast’s Waterfront Hall. Nine of McCory’s next 10 fights would be in Belfast and one in Tallaght.
“KING” WALSH
In the main event at MSG on Nov. 9, rising Irish star Callum “King” Walsh challenges Ismael Villarreal for the Bronx resident’s WBC Silver super welterweight title in a 10-rounder.
A celebrated amateur back home, the six-foot southpaw, who’s 22 and out of Cork, is unique among Irish fighters in recent times: all his professional fights have been States-side.
Fighting out of Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, California, he made his pro debut in December 2021 with a first round KO of Earl Henry in Montebello, Calif.
Under Roach’s tutelage, Walsh went on to knock out six more opponents en route to scripting an 8-0 ledger. In Villarreal, he faces a fellow puncher with a 13-1 [9 KO] record.
