A Ringside Review
by Damien McKinley
Irish Fighters Take
Center Stage
The Waterfront Hall was the venue for a great night of Boxing on Friday night. It wasn't the hectic glitz and glam of a Frampton show but a great show nonetheless.
Headlining the card we had Irish Featherweight champion Marco McCullough (10-1, 6 KOs) fighting for the WBO European Featherweight title which is more a stepping stone title to break into the upper scale of the world rankings. McCullough faced unbeaten Czech Martin Parlagi (14-1, 8 KOs), and the Irishman really had to dig deep for his unambitious decision win. The fight began badly for McCullough who was outmatched for speed by Parlagi. The Czech began almost immediately with dirty tactics, using the head and hitting after the referee called break. McCullough seemed to be feeling Parlagi's power and seemed dazed when hit with the right hand.
McCullough put Parlagi down in the second but it looked more of a tumble than anything else. McCullough from there began to box smart, using his jab to set up his uppercuts and then slipped the counter attacks from Parlagi.
The fourth round had Marco's fans fearing the worst. In what began as a good start with McCullough's ring smarts, Parlagi unleashed a heavy set of shots. One of which caught the Shankill Road fighter right on the temple. After about 3 seconds of being hit, Marco's legs shook and Parlagi jumped in with another attack that seen McCullough plummet to the floor. Things then went from bad to worse for Marco. In the next round another flurry of punches from Parlagi left McCullough with a horrible cut on the top of his nose which looked like it may have been broken. The blood ran from the gash like a water top and was clear annoying McCullough as he tried to wipe the flowing river of red from his nose.
Thankfully (and shockingly) the officials didn't end proceedings and with McCullough's face covered in blood throughout the reminder of the fight, he took a major foothold on the action and fought with real intelligence. His movement and accuracy got stronger as he boxed off the back foot using jabs, straight right hands and doubling up with the uppercut. Parlagi looked almost like a broken man. He had given everything and although he was using the head, elbows, and just about every other dirty trick in the book, he was given a great round of applause for his efforts.
Before the main event, the crowd were treated to a fine performance from Jamie Conlan (12-0, 8 KOs). The Fall Road man got off to a tricky start against Gabor Molnar (15-6, 10 KOs) and was tagged more than he should have in a close first round. But Conlan began to show his class as the fight wore on with Molnar being sent to the canvas in the second. The (location) got up to be saved by the bell but the third round saw Conlan coming out smelling blood and quickly began to unload heavy body shots and hard right hands which repeatedly rocked Molnar to the point he hit the floor again. Once on his feet Conlan stepped in with a hard combination which left Molnar on his back
and the referee waving off the fight.