Padraig McCrory is back to winning ways, but was forced to dig deep to overcome the challenge of Leonard Carrillo at the SSE Arena.
McCrory was coming in off the back of his first career defeat when stopped by Edgar Belanga in February and this was no easing back in assignment.
Carrillo may have lost five of his previous 22 fights, but all but one of his 17 victories had come inside the distance and that power could have turned it into a nightmare for the home support.
They were ten tense rounds and McCrory took the nod on the scorecard 89-91, which seemed about right as Carrillo seemed more interested in a knockout from the off. But, despite late pressure, McCrory prevailed.
Facing a southpaw opponent, McCrory took a few moments to settle in but this fight exploded as Carillo was decked with a left hand as McCrory sought to finish it. He was tagged by a huge right that had him on wobbly legs and he avoided becoming the third on the deck in the opener after referee Hugh Russell Jnr initially took a tumble.
Carrillo knew he had the power to trouble and seemed happy to crouch and wait for an opening with some crude, wild swings in the second, showboating on occasion when he was tagged.
This meeting of power-punchers was living up to its billing as both were clearly respectful of the other, but McCrory made a more confident start to the third. He landed two heavy rights and seemed to make a breakthrough towards the end of the round.
Carrillo drew the ire of Russell in the fourth and was sternly warned for a couple of rabbit punches as McCrory sought his own retribution and banked another round, but the visitor remained a real danger.
The scorecard didn’t seem to matter to Carrillo, who was not exactly pressing but simply waiting and waiting for an opening to land a haymaker to end it there and then.
Therefore, McCrory couldn’t afford to let his concentration slip as the first round proved it could be curtains. His route inside was movement, feinting and faking to open a favourable angle.
McCrory was landing with more regularity and caught the Barcelona-based Colombian flush with a left in the seventh, but it did not trouble as Carrillo retained his air of menace.
He increased that threat in the eighth as McCrory unwisely backed into a corner and was punished with a shot to the body appearing to sting but, despite a nick developing over the left eye, the St James’ man worked his way out of trouble and regained the centre of the ring.
It was further warning that this was far from a done deal and the grimace on McCrory’s face when taking a monster left to the body said it all. Yet again he sucked it up and rallied but it was clear the accumulation was now beginning to tell.
Into the final round and Carrillo knew he needed a stoppage so attacked accordingly, with McCrory doing just enough to keep him at bay at times, but was perhaps hanging on a little by the end.
Still, the visitor’s push came too late with McCrory long out of sight as he can now move on and survey his options.
Meanwhile, the Irish super-bantamweight title is now in the possession of Ruadhan Farrell who repeated his March victory over Connor Kerr to take a unanimous decision.
This was rematch of their Celtic title fight earlier this year in which Farrell edged home after a war and although this wasn’t quite as high octane, it was nonetheless competitive and a lot more competitive than some of the scorecards suggested (98-92, 97-93, 100-91).
Still, it would be impossible to deny that Farrell won this fight as he made use of his advantages that bit better and grabbed a win at the arena for the third time of asking having lost and drawn in the past.
The war we were anticipating didn’t quite break out from the opening bell as both settled into it and the reach and height of Farrell was helping him score on the outside as Kerr sought a way in.
His best way to close the gap was to throw in bunches and had success when doing so, while was also given some opportunities when Farrell came to him.
The rounds were close and competitive in the first half but it seemed Farrell was just ahead and he pressed on in rounds six and seven, opening a gap, but it certainly wasn’t one-way traffic.
Kerr was having trouble building sustained pressure and knew he needed to turn it around, roaring back in the eighth and for the first half of the ninth, but couldn’t sustain it as Farrell regained a semblance of control to claim the title and improve to 6-1-1 on a night in which his dreams came true.
“It feels unbelievable — I’m an emotional wreck, to be honest,” said Farrell afterwards.
“I’d always wanted to be an Irish champion as an amateur and never got that opportunity, but here I am now.
The previous bout saw Matthew Boreland box over eight rounds for the first time and the Coleraine super-bantamweight passed the test against Scotland’s Calum Turnbull to improve to 4-0.
This was an excellent battle between the pair who got straight down to business from the opening bell, standing in the pocket and trading after 25-year-old ‘Bam Bam’ had set to make his mark early with the jab.
The first half of the fight was contested at a ferocious pace with both unloading power shots and southpaw Turnbull was having plenty of success as he tested the chin of Boreland, growing in confidence. Yet Boreland was having plenty of joy also as it was clear this was now a battle of wills.
Blood seeped from Turnbull’s nose in the fifth as it seemed he was the one on thinner ice and those suspicions grew in the sixth as the gumshield came out and there seemed a look of resignation as he returned to the corner.
They continued to throw all they could at the other but would hear the final bell with Boreland a rather wide 79-73 winner on Eamonn Magill’s card.
Early in the night, there were routine 60-54 wins for Mark Dunlop-managed pair, Tommy McCarthy and Colm Murphy, while former Holy Trinity pair, Teo Alin and Jack O’Neill both improved to 2-0 as pros.
Kurt Walker’s planned fight against Rudy Garcia was scrapped as Garcia failed a medical, while Cathal McLaughlin’s fight also fell through at the 11th hour.