Fighting Irish add to medal haul
And they all promised plenty of action and excitement today when they join Wednesday night’s quarter-final winner, Carl Frampton, chasing places in tomorrow’s finals.
McMonagle’s 26-12 victory over Frenchman Mohammed Samoudi was spectacular if unexpected. He threw more punches than any other boxer at this tournament and came back from a 7-6 first round deficit to take total control in the concluding rounds.
Scoring with lefts and rights to the head and body, he was two points up at the end of the second round and then won the third round 8-1 to go into the final round with a comfortable cushion. With Samoudi forced to come forward he picked him off with combinations to win decisively and now has the easier of the semi-finals, facing Cristian Ciocan who stopped Scotland’s David Hannah on a cut eye in their contest.
On Tuesday night, McMonagle beat Kiurban Gunebakan from Turkey on a cut eye decision with 30 seconds remaining in the contest.
“I’m happy with that but it’s early days,” was Darren Sutherland’s reaction after he stopped Mario Duro (Spain) on the 20-point rule early in the third round of their middleweight contest.
“I think I can definitely go all the way but I know I have another two tough fights ahead.”
He turned in a power-packed performance against the Spaniard who shipped some big shots right from the first bell. Sutherland led 7-6 at the end of the first round but was only getting into his stride. He hunted his man, cut him off and scored with powerful punches to the head and body. His jab was devastating but still the Spaniard stood up defiantly to his punches.
“I noticed the judges were not scoring everything — just big shots — but I am also a good boxer and I like to work behind my jab,” Sutherland said. “The type of jab I throw as well — it’s a ramrod jab — your head goes back so you think they would score.”
He led 19-10 at the end of the second round and two big lefts to the head had the Spaniard reeling at the start of the third and he took a standing count from a left jab to the head. Sutherland was leading 32-12 when the 20-point rule was invoked.
“I wanted to make a statement. I am the No 1-ranked in this tournament so there is a lot of pressure. Now I have Del Monte, the Italian, and I beat him in Croatia when I won the gold medal in the first multi-nations tournament of the year. He is tricky and he looked capable and confident today.”
Welterweight Roy Sheahan got the day off to a flying start with a very impressive 17-12 victory over Dmitrits Sostaks (Latvia). Sheehan lured his man forward, scored with accurate shots and then cut him off. A tentative first round was tied at four points apiece but the Kildare man took control in the second.
“When I got two or three points up I dominated,” Sheahan said. “He was going to have to come to me and that meant I was fighting him at his own game. I used the right to the body a lot and it was effective. He was wide open for the body shot. I am pleased with that and I will be going for gold now.”
Kenneth Egan also has his sights on gold. The captain of the Irish team tonight meets the man he beat for the gold medal two years ago in Cagliari, Mario Sivolija (Croatia) in the semi-final after beating Imre Szello (Hungary) literally with one hand as he nursed his injured left through five action-packed rounds to a 17-7 victory.
He beat Szello for the gold medal at the multi-nations tournament in the Czech Republic last November but was even more convincing this time, taking the lead with an accurate southpaw jab in the first and building on it.
Carl Frampton meets Michal Chudecki (Poland) in his featherweight semi-final this afternoon with Sheahan, Sutherland, Egan and McMonagle all in action in the evening session.
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