The dawn of a new decade signifies the beginning of another exciting period for Irish boxing with the stars of the next generation being showcased on the Yanjing Fight Night at the National Stadium in Dublin on Saturday, February 13th.
For the first time ever a record breaking four Irish titles will be up for grabs on the same night with the Heavyweight, Super Middleweight, Lightweight and Featherweight belts on the line. The event will be headlined by the long talked about clash between unbeaten Cavan star Andy Murray and Dublin’s Oisin “Gael Force” Fagan in their Irish Lightweight decider.
The undercard will feature the first Irish Heavyweight title fight in almost 13 years with Galway’s Coleman Barrett and Dublin’s Colin Kenna contesting the vacant crown while the Super Middleweight title will also be up for grabs between Dublin’s Anthony Fitzgerald and Leeds based Belfast man Lee Murtagh.
At Featherweight the exciting Dubliner Patrick Hyand will look to make the first defence of his title and put his 18 fight unbeaten record on the line against London based Cork man Mickey Coveney. It all adds up to an exciting night of Irish title action in Dublin as the likes of Murray, Hyland, Barrett and Fitzgerald look to underline their status as the future stars of Irish boxing.
Promoter Brian Peters believes this is the kind of grassroots event that underlines the current strength of Irish boxing. “To have four Irish title fights in one night is amazing when you consider that at the start of the last decade we had a five year period (April 2000 – February 2005) without even one Irish title fight,” said Peters.
“Next months show underlines just how much the sport has grown here over the last five years and the level of talent that’s still emerging through the ranks. RTÉ’s support has been crucial to that development and they will be covering this event live as well. I think that underlines their continued commitment to the development of the sport here and the emerging talent coming through the ranks.
“The main event is a real crossroads clash between Andy and Oisin and it’s a fight Irish boxing fans have been talking about for quite a while now,” said Peters. “Coleman Barrett did brilliantly in the last heavyweight Prizefighter getting to the final. He was winning the final too until he got caught by Audley Harrison so its great to see him in an Irish Heavyweight title fight and to have that title active again.
“Patrick Hyland and Anthony Fitzgerald have both been very impressive of late so there will be a lot of talent on display next month and with Irish titles on the line there’s going to be an awful lot of pride at stake as well.”
January 14, 2010
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