Ahead of the big St. Patrick’s Day weekend show at Madison Square Garden, two other Irish fighters – Dubliners Keane “Ice Man” McMahon and Emmet Brennan -- are scheduled to appear in separate New York City bouts.
Rising super welterweight star “King” Callum Walsh, out of Cork via Hollywood, California; Tyrone’s “Fearless” Feargal McCrory, and Westmeath light heavyweight “Mighty” Joe Ward all appear on the March 15 Tom Loeffler 360 Promotions card at the Garden.
Before that, McMahon, a lanky 6-foot-1 welterweight, returns to the Big Apple to face Queens resident Danny “El Gallo” Gonzalez at The Paramount Theatre in Huntington, Long Island, on Feb. 23. Call [718] 823-2000 for ticket information.
McMahon-Gonzalez will be over eight rounds in the super welterweight division. The “Ice Man” will enter the ring with a 7-3 [4 KO] ledger, while Gonzalez boasts a 20-4-1 [7 KO] record.
McMahon’s last fight was a six-round unanimous points loss to one Jahyae Brown at Madison Square Garden in June 2022.
On March 7 at Sony Hall in in Times Square, Brennan, a 2020 Irish Olympian, makes his New York debut in an eight-round light heavyweight contest against Devaun Lee [11-10-1, 6 KOs]. Lee is also a Queens native.
Brennan is the BUI Celtic light heavyweight champion and according to irishboxing.com, has made no secret of his desire “to fight on the East Coast nor his belief he could have a John Duddy-style impact in New York.”
“He gets the chance to show fight fans of [the] famous fight city what he is all about on BoxingInsider’s next event at Sony Hall,” the website writes.
“The Dublin Dockland’s graduate faces what would be deemed a test for a two-fight novice. The 32-year-old takes on Queens native, Devaun Lee, a step down from Jamie Morrissey, who he defeated on the Katie Taylor undercard on November 25, but a solid third fight nonetheless.
“Lee has operated out of the away corner in recent years but has some very good wins on his record, including victories in USA New York State and a WBA Fedecarible title fights.
“He has also shared the ring with the likes of former Padraig McCrory foe, Steed Woodhall, former Jason Quigley opponent Shane Mosley, Jr. and more recently fast rising star Elvis Figueroa,” reports irishboxing.com.
“This fight is going to set up some huge nights in both Dublin and New York in the future,” Brennan said online. “Do the business here and we are going straight for the Irish title next and defend that in New York this summer.”
GARDEN PARTY
In the March 15 show at the Garden, the talented and undefeated Callum Walsh [9-0, 7 KOs] is matched against hard-hitting Kazak veteran Dauren Yeleussinov [11-3-1, 10 KOs] in a 10-rounder for the vacant WBC Americas and Continental super welterweight title.
Hailed as the fastest rising star in boxing, Walsh holds the WBC US Silver 154-pound belt.
Super featherweight Feargal McCrory [15-0, 7 KOs] squares off with Mexican Carlos Carlson [25-7, 16 KOs] in the eight round co-feature.
Meanwhile, Joe Ward [10-1, 6 KOs] tackles Derrick Webster [29-4-1, 14 KOs], a Glassboro, New Jersey, resident with extensive experience as a sparring partner for some of prizefighting’s recent stars.
These include Roy Jones, Jr., the Russian Sergey Kovalev, and Andre Ward who held both world super middleweight and light heavyweight titles and retired undefeated after 32 fights.
