BIG time boxing came back to the west of Ireland on Friday night, with a sell-out show at Leisureland in Salthill.
There was a major Clare interest as Shannon’s David Ryan opened the Conlan Boxing/Top Rank promoted show, with a shut-out points victory over the Costa Rican Berman Sanchez.
While Ryan won every one of the six rounds convincingly, his 39 year old opponent was a tough and thick-set fighter, and it never looked like the fight would not go the scheduled six rounds.
The tone for the fight was set very early on, with Ryan delivering a number of snappy body punches, as he was on the front foot continuously.
In the second the visiting fighter did land a couple of left hooks, but Ryan was still very much on top, and he delivered an excellent left hand mid way through the round, reflecting his superiority.
Ryan landed some solid right hands in the third, with a bit more spite in his punches. The second half of the fight saw his dominance continue, with Sanchez proving a durable opponent, but never showing anything that could cause the Shannon fighter a problem.
Speaking afterwards, Ryan said he had his hurt his left hand in the early exchanges. “I was hoping to get him out of there, but I think I did something to my hand in the first two rounds, it’s killing me now. I’ll see what happens with it now, it’s quite sore.”
There were some vocal Ryan supporters in the sell out crowd, but he said he had only received a small personal allocation. “I had only 15 tickets, I had 150 people wanting to go. Hopefuly the next show they’ll all be there. At least it was on TV and they could all watch it. I have massive support in Shannon. With my sponsors, I’m so well looked after, it’s fantastic.”
Also on the card, Clarinbridge based John Cooney had the seventh win of his professional career. Limerick’s Jamie Morrissey fought a draw in his rematch with Kerry’s Kevin Cronin, in a thrilling contest, with the BUI Irish light heavyweight title on the line. The bill was topped by Galway fighter Kieran Molloy who had a comfortable victory over Columbian Fernando Mosquera.
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked with a number of other publications in Limerick, Cork and Galway. His first book will be published in December 2024.