Gavan Casey reports from the National Stadium, Dublin
IRISH AMATEUR BOXING legend Roy Sheahan has won Ireland’s inaugural Last Man Standing competition, pocketing €26,000 as well as €5,000 for his amateur boxing club, St. Michael’s Athy, less than two months after temporarily stepping away from a building site to chance his arm in boxing’s professional ranks.
The 32-year-old former four-time Irish Senior Elite champion entered the middleweight tournament as the least experienced fighter in professional terms, with just one pro bout under his belt – that being a four-round warm-up taken last month so that he could apply for the BUI boxing licence he needed to enter in the first place.
One of the most popular characters in the sport in Ireland, Sheahan took the undefeated records of Vladimir Belujsky and Jack Cullen, and saw off Irish super-middleweight champion JJ McDonagh, en route to a sizeable cheque and a fast-track toward the top of his division.
He is the first ever winner of the Red Corner Promotions and Assassin Promotions-inspired event – Ireland’s first Prizefighter-style pro boxing competition, which saw the sport return to Irish terrestrial TV for the first time in seven years through broadcasters TG4.
There won’t be a cow milked down Athy, and all that.
Quarter-finals
The four seeded contestants got the job done in their respective quarter-final bouts.
Before Belfast’s Ger Healy could get going in the opening bout, JJ McDonagh – the BUI Irish super-middleweight champion – creased him with a left hook that would wake the dead. Healy protested his immediate stoppage but was consoled by his prodigious trainer Ray Ginley, who like those of us sat ringside had seen McDonagh’s rasper and wished to see no more.
McDonagh appeared to signal to his corner that he had injured his elbow, but told the press as he made his way to his dressing room mere minutes after he had emerged: “I’ll fight with one arm! I’ll fight with one arm!”
Next up, Navan man Chris Blaney – the tournament’s second seed – went hell-for-leather with late replacement Owen Jobburn of Stoke-on-Trent, whose ancestors hail from Athlone.
Jobburn shaded the early exchanges but in a balls-to-the-wall firefight, Blaney willed himself to victory, finishing with a classier and more explosive array of shots to put his sizeable support at ease. The Ricky Hatton-trained Blaney was awarded the contest 30-27, 30-27 and 30-26 by the judges – the last of which was farcical where the first two were probably generous. Jobburn played his role in what was an exhilarating back-and-forth, albeit somewhat devoid of quality at times.
Irish amateur legend Roy Sheahan was the bookies’ favourite to win Last Man Standing as recently as Friday, but as third seed had invited ‘Slovak Rebel’ Vladimir Belujsky out to play for what was, on paper, perhaps the most feverishly anticipated last-eight clash. And what read well on paper manifested itself in the ring, and then some.
Slovakian-born Cork man Belujsky rattled Sheahan early with some thudding shots in close, but the four-time Irish Senior Elite champion from Athy – not two months removed from a building site – found his rhythm and range to swing the bout in his favour from halfway through the first: under pressure from the onrushing Belujsky, Sheahan produced a peach of a straight-right counter to plant the 22-year-old on the seat of his pants.
Having taken the first 10-8, Sheahan’s fleet footwork continued to bamboozle the more one-dimensional Belujsky. The 32-year-old rocked Belujsky again with a sweet, cupping left on the back of a strong straight right. Belujsky continued to have minor success, but his task fast became quixotic.
Sheahan was awarded the fight 30-26 on all three judges’ scorecards.
In the fourth quarter-final, Bolton’s Jack Cullen saw off dark horse Nick Quigley 30-27 x3, outworking his Liverpudlian opponent in a clear and concise unanimous-decision win.
Cullen would face Blaney in the semis, but first up it was McDonagh versus Sheahan.
Semi-finals
It was the Athy man who started the brighter against the visibly larger McDonagh, who looked every pound of the 175 he took with him to the ring.
A sharp Sheahan straight right in the middle of the first stanza staggered McDonagh briefly, and by the second Sheahan was showing none of the wear and tear of his previous scrap; McDonagh, doubtless the fresher given his early stoppage of Healy in the quarters, didn’t seem particularly troubled bu his supposedly hurt right hand, but struggled to establish his jab against his silky-smooth adversary.
The second followed a similar pattern, with Sheahan’s straight right frequently finding a home and causing wreck. Sensing the bout was slipping away, McDonagh’s corner roared for him to ‘work’, and as he tried to, he wound up landing atop Sheahan as both slipped to the canvas awkwardly as the bell rang to end the second. It earned him a stern stare from Sheahan, who was well in the ascendancy through two.
Flustered, McDonagh would take Sheahan to the canvas twice more as their legs tangled, but despite his conspicuous frustration, the Athy stylist kept his composure to comprehensively outbox the boxer en route to another unanimous-decision win.
Sheahan, for whom the sport had become an afterthought until his chance-your-arm decision to go pro from out of the blue, was into the Last Man Standing final. McDonagh went home with €7,000 for his troubles – €5,000 of which was awarded for scoring the fastest KO of the night versus Healy.
Jack Cullen and Chris Blaney entered their semi-final with identical records of 10 fights, 10 wins, and three stoppages, but where Blaney might have been fancied as the puncher of the pair, it was Cullen who sat down on his shots to greater effect in a complete barnburner. In keeping with their mirror-image records, both men traded thunderous right hooks with about 20 seconds to go in the first – Blaney’s the more thudding, it seemed, but he’d soon get a taste of Cullen’s own pop.
Enjoying the better of a ferocious exchange halfway through the second, the 24-year-old Bolton man known as ‘Little Lever’s Meat Cleaver’ gave his Navan opponent the chop: a thunderous right hook sent Blaney crashing to the canvas, and his legs scarcely recovered.
Cullen kept the heat on his foe, and to Blaney’s credit he couldn’t be accused of leaving anything in the squared circle. The knockdown, though, was key, as Cullen reached the final by way of a deserved unanimous decision: 29-27 x3.
Final
The final was a battle between two undefeated boxers, albeit two of Roy Sheahan’s three pro wins to this point had been attained during the previous hour.
The 11-0 Cullen had the disadvantage of having fought his semi slightly more recently, and began on the back foot as Sheahan laid down a marker with his laser-like jab. He landed a fine combination on his English opponent as he retreated halfway through the opener, but Cullen finally found his mark moments later as he backed Sheahan to the ropes.
The Kildare man, though, looked more at ease, frequently causing Cullen to miss wildly before delivering crushing blows to head and body.
Within a couple of blinks towards the end of the first, it was over: tail up, the Irish amateur great cornered Cullen and unleashed an almighty, unanswered barrage to lift the roof off the Stadium. The referee came to Cullen’s aid not a moment too soon, and Sheahan collapsed to his knees centre-ring in maniacal celebration, suddenly 26 grand the richer.
Almost from nowhere, the sensational slickster has become a serious player not only in Ireland, but in the European middleweight division.
Other action
In what was technically the headline event of the evening, Dubliners Craig O’Brien and Jay Byrne almost took the roof off the 79-year-old arena as they waged war for the BUI Irish light-middleweight title.
Teak tough veteran Byrne gave his all in what was a compelling derby, but it was the undefeated Celtic champion O’Brien who had the edge throughout.
It was, perhaps, surprising that he outfoxed Byrne to the extend he did: Byrne had shocked another seven-fight undefeated opponent, Gerard Whitehouse, in his last outing, but O’Brien laid plain that he was the superior boxer as took a hard-earned unanimous decision win on scores of 98-92, 99-92 and 98-92.
O’Brien, whose youth and early 20′s were blighted by crime and the untimely losses of close friends, has turned his life around through the professional sport under Paschal Collins.
His record improves to 8-0, while the gallant Byrne’s drops to 6-4.
Dublin light-weltwerweight Victor Rabei emerged victorious from a fight-of-the-night contender with Belfast’s Mark Morris, as the latter – visibly in trouble after three rounds of what was a gruelling encounter – was pulled by his corner ahead of the fourth and final round.
The Moldovan-born youngster improves to 4-0(1KO), and while Morris’ record drops to 3-2, his stock arguably rises provided he came through the contest relatively unscathed.
Dungarvan’s Dylan Moran registered his fifth victory in the pro ranks – his third quick. The 23-year-old former kickboxing world champion made short work of the previously 4-2 Hungarian Gyula Rozsas in what was the final bout before the main tournament began.
Earlier in the evening, Leinster Rugby athletic performance coach Cillian Reardon made his long-awaited professional debut, but had to do so the hard way: the St. Michael’s BC-trained middleweight wound up fighting an Eastern European cruiserweight who once took Stevie Collins Jr the distance, but proved his boxing venture was no sideshow as he displayed a stellar arsenal en route to a 40-36 points win.
Reardon, roared on from ringside by Cian Healy and other Leinster and Ireland stars, built on his jab to find a home for his right uppercut and straight right, also displaying fine footwork in a maiden pro win.
On his pro debut, @leinsterrugby athletic performance coach @creardon0 wound up fighting a cruiserweight who took Stevie Collins the distance (Reardon is a middleweight), but got the job done in style. 40-36. #LastManStanding pic.twitter.com/Zw3nfVwqA0
— Gavan Casey (@GavanCasey) March 3, 2018
Some pure nonsence selections by both your pundits. Out of position or based on one performance. They both need to do their homework if they want to be taken seriously as high quality commentators. Neither Crowley nor Itoje warrent selection in any dream team this season. The English second-row, Martin, gave a real demonstration of the position in his two games against Ireland and France.
I’m particularly surprised at Murray’s nominations
@Des Lamont: Yeah, really surpassed by the selections too not very realistic and not based across the five weekends. Aki, Lowe, Sheehan and Beirne. Martin a definite.
@Des Lamont: Some of those offloads were delicious. Release yourself from the tribal trappings Des! As they say in curling, deliver the stone… lol
@Con Cussed: You can’t really complain about the selections not being based across the 5 games, and then nominate a guy who played only 2
@Des Lamont: be honest you just want to give out about Crowley, rugby pundits probably do abit of homework tbf.
@Con Cussed: You can’t really complain about the selections not being based across the 5 weeks and then say Martin is a definite when he only played in 2 games
@Des Lamont: how is Van Der Merwe not in that team, would have made more sense to accomodate Lowe and himself rather than sticking an italian centre on the wing..
@Owen ODonoghue: 1 game with 3 moments is all he had. He was anonymous for the rest of that game and the championship with the exception of 2 other moments and several defensive lapses. VdM will struggle to make the Lions squad. He definitely won’t make the test match 23.
@Kevin Ryan: He played three games, started two but a fair call Kevin. He’s only 22 years old and 6’6”.
Aki is a little overrated. There are times when he trucks it up when the ball should go wide. His defence is poor. He missed a simple tackle on McDowall on Saturday; his attempted tackle on Earl was abysmal when Earl scored at Twickenham; he was smoked by Fatima-Waboso on 79m 30s down the touchline which should’ve been his friend. If he had nailed that tackle, Ireland win; wrong choice, when Chessum knocked him into touch.
Crowley is media hyped. The only time he needed to kick was v England blitz defence and he didn’t do so once. The odd dink over the top would’ve kept them honest. In every other game, his kicks were either inappropriate, went dead or blocked. His much loaded defence is suspect. He needed to go for the tap tackle for the English 1sr try. He goes high rather than low.
@Brian O’Connor: Wree you even watching?. He did kick over the blitz defense several times and watch again and see some great tackles he made. You’re making so many general statements without a lot to back it up.
@Brian O’Connor: I’m just really worried about the people who read this and decided to give you a thumbs up!!
@John Ludgate: the statistics show that Crowley did not kick once against England. Perhaps influenced by his poor kicking in the previous three games. His attempted tackle for England first try was poor. Look at the game on video again please. He is a brave defender, but his tackling technique needs work.
I referenced three missed tackles by Aki which are fact not general statements. I happen to think that Henshaw and Ringrose are the better partnership. That is a general statement and a matter of opinion.
I still think Aki and Crowley are excellent by the way.
@Brian O’Connor:
@Paul Ennis: I take a passing interest in these articles, and there is a trend with certain BTL commentators. Most are civilised and friendly. This is not Twitter. Some like to provoke. I rarely comment and I certainly never criticise, either directly or by implication. We are all entitled to our opinions. Your name features from time to time in comments, I have nothing to say other it’s probably best to stick to the old adage, if you have nothing good to say, then say nothing.
Tommy Reffell would crush in a better team. Just sayin
@Thesaltyurchin: great shout! Machine of a player…
@Thesaltyurchin: it’s a bit odd that if lions team was picked now we’d not expect to have an Irish man in the starting back row., unless Pete captained them but that’s unlikely
@Ciaran Kennedy: Lol! *fire emoji
Crowley had a great first six nations by he wasn’t the standout 10. That would have to go to Ramos, perhaps Ford in second place. Keenan didn’t see enough game time at 15. Winnett (15) of Wales was one of the few Welsh players to make a difference to the team.
@Con Cussed: Crowley is being seriously underestimated. Some of the tries he created were sublime. His awareness of his support runners. His freeing his hands in contact. Sure he made mistakes but an outstanding playmaker.
@Cu Chulainn: and for he’s first run out in a test level series he was a class act, were blessed to have a 10 like him so soon after sexton.
@Con Cussed: Ramos is way overrated
@Con Cussed: and Ramos only played 2 games at 10. Ford for me
@Con Cussed: Winnet was brutal v Italy, knocked into his 10 trying to catch the ball at one stage
@Con Cussed: keenan- 3 matches as the most outstanding 15 isnt good enough? You would rather insert Winnett and his wooden spoon? Definitely a player for the future but I comparable to Keenan!
@Con Cussed: Ramos played 1 game at 10. I would give him the 15 shirt based on the fact he can cover 10, but he doesn’t deserve the 10 shirt based on 1 game. Crowley had 2 excellent games, 2 good and 1 average. He ranks higher than every other 10.
@Con Cussed: sorry, but you don’t get to play 10 in a team that should have lost to both Italy and Scotland and get to be player of the tournament.
Murray’s back five must be an error. 4. Itoje 5. Beirne 6. Martin 7. Lamaro 8. Earl. Surely one of Itoje or Beirne is meant to be at 6 and Martin as 2nd row.
How George Ford made it in here we’ll never know, i’d say Huw Jones or VDF would have been better shouts