Callum Walsh punctuated a night of Irish KO victories at Madison Square Garden in New York last Friday, ahead of St. Patrick’s Day weekend, with a ninth round stoppage of Dauren Yeleussinov to capture the WBC Continental Americas super welterweight title.
The exciting Cork product nicknamed “King” was cruising by scores of 80-72, 79-73 and 78-74 when referee Eric Dali halted the scheduled 10-rounder in the penultimate stanza, after Yeleussinov had taken one shot too many during a flurry. It went down as a TKO at 1:56.
Earlier on the Tom Loeffler 360 Promotions card, “Fearless” Feargal McCrory pummeled Mexican Carlos Carlson for three rounds before referee David Fields waved it off at 2:07. McCrory claimed the WBA Continental Americas super featherweight title.
And light heavyweight “Mighty” Joe Ward made short work of veteran Derrick Webster, starching the 41-year-old at 2:25 of the second round.
KING REIGNS
Walsh went at Yeleussinov, a hard-hitting Kazakh 10 of whose 11 wins had come by knockouts, from the first bell. The talented six-foot southpaw was merciless with right hand leads often thrown as an uppercut to the midriff.
Yeleussinov appeared stunned by a three-punch combination in the second round. He weathered Walsh’s follow up but was rattled again at the end by two right hands.
With little coming back from his foe, Walsh continued to dig the right uppercut to the body. There was a vicious left hook to Yeleussinov’s head in the fourth and then Walsh appeared to take his foot off the pedal in the fifth.
Still, the Brooklyn-based Kazakh would continue to take punches and as his face, welts and all, would betray. An innocuous looking left hook flung Yeleussinov into the ropes in seventh round and before the start of the ninth, the fight doctor decided to examine him. He was allowed to continue, but not for long.
Moments later, referee Eric Dali intervened to save Yeleussinov from further punishment.
Walsh, who also holds the WBC US Silver 154-pound belt, improved to [10-0, 8 KOs] while Yeleussinov dropped to [11-4-1, 10 KOs].
Asked what he thought of his 23-year-old charge’s performance, trainer Freddie Roach told the Echo: “He looked OK, but we need to work a lot more on the counter punching and combinations.”
Ranked #13 in the world by the IBF and #14 by the WBC, Walsh was returning to The Theater at MSG where he outpointed Ismael Villarreal last November.
”FEARLESS” FURY
Also making his second straight Garden appearance, Feargal McCrory, who’d sold many tickets for the show, fought like a fury to take out Carlos Carlson in three rounds.
The Tyrone man was whaling away at Carlson from the start, much to the crowd’s delight. The end began when Carlson went down in the third round from a body shot. Surprisingly, the referee ruled it a slip but would soon stop the fight after another barrage of shots by McCrory.
He upped his ledger to 16-0 [8 KOs].
“Selling out MSG on St. Patrick’s [Day] weekend, winning a title and becoming world ranked while stopping my opponent early, with thousands of friends, family and supporters! That'll take some topping,” McCrory, whose 31, said. “Thank you everyone who made this possible and thank you to every single person there.”
MIGHTY LEFT HOOK
Meanwhile, Westmeath’s Joe Ward [11-1, 7 KOs] had the shortest night with an easy two-round KO of seasoned light heavyweight Derrick Webster [29-5, 14 KOs].
Ward had decked Webster twice before ending the bout with a huge left to the jaw thrown behind two pawing right jabs. He had the New Jersey native on the canvas earlier in the round with a short left.
HYDE RULES
In Redwood City, outside San Francisco, Tommy “The Governor” Hyde [8-0, 5 KOs] stopped Craig “BTL” McCarthy [10-2-1, 2 KOs] in the fifth round of their Patrick’s Day Eve fight at Fox Theater to win the Boxing Union of Ireland [BUI] Celtic super middleweight belt.
“This was probably my best performance so far,” Hyde, who’s 24, noted. “I fought a tough opponent and won the fight convincingly. I trained very hard for this fight, and I think that showed under the lights.”
Hyde was comfortable from the opening bell, establishing his range in round one, and then controlling the action with slick counter-punching. McCarthy started to break down and was floored in the second round. Hyde pounded his tough opponent, nearly stopping him at the end of rounds three and four, before he closed the show 30-seconds into round five when referee David Irvine ended it.
Tommy’s father, international boxing manager Gary Hyde, said: “I am very proud of Tommy’s performance. Tommy fought intelligently, hurting his opponent continuously before closing the show at the beginning of the fifth round. Tommy is officially the #1 super middleweight in Ireland so the Boxing Union of Ireland will decide who he will fight for the vacant Irish Super middleweight title.”
CRONIN PREVAILS
And at the Freeport Hall in Dorchester, Massachusetts, Tralee super middleweight Kevin Cronin scored a fourth round KO over journeyman Patrick Pierre [5-28, 3 KOs].
Cronin is now 7-1-1 [4 KOs].
