IF the boxing public at large wasn’t already aware of Jude Gallagher, they should be now after a one round destruction of England’s Niall Farrell silenced Birmingham’s NEC Arena last night.
Brummie Farrell was roared into the ring by a partisan home crowd hoping – expecting – to see their man advance into a Commonwealth Games quarter-final showdown with Pakistan’s Ilyas Hussain tomorrow.
But Gallagher ripped up the script in stunning fashion, the Tyrone tornado finding his range inside the opening minute before a series of crushing right hands sent Farrell staggering back, forcing the first of two standing counts.
Another big right over the top of Farrell’s left landed shortly after and, when one more for luck followed a brief but brutal body attack, the referee gave the 24-year-old Englishman a second standing count – eventually waving the fight off to leave the Newtownstewart man one win from a medal.
Even in his wildest dreams Gallagher couldn’t have imagined it would go so well, with the raucous home crowd never allowed to become a factor.
“I’m buzzing now – it couldn’t have gone any better,” said the 20-year-old, who is bidding to follow in the footsteps of 2014 gold medallist Michael Conlan and 2018 silver medallist Kurt Walker by going deep into the competition.
“I expected it all [the noise]. Yesterday one of the other English lads was fighting and I heard the reception he got, I knew it was going to be like that and I didn’t let it affect me at all. They can’t get in the ring with him, so I paid no attention whatsoever.
“I just listened to the tactics from John [Conlan] and Damian [Kennedy], that was it. Start fast, look for that right hand over the top… once I found my range I just landed perfectly with it a couple of times.”
Although on shaky legs, Farrell felt the stoppage was premature.
“Obviously the ref tries to do the best they can but I was walking forward, my hands were up, I couldn’t have done any more to say I was sound,” he said.
“It’s boxing, people get hit - you expect more from the ref. Obviously it’s my home town, I wanted to make everyone proud… I’m just gutted.”
How the fight finished wasn’t Gallagher’s concern and, having shaken off any rust in his opening bout against Swaziland’s Zweli Dlamini on Saturday, he now looks in rude health as the medal stages near.
“There’s nothing I can do about it,” he said of the stoppage.
“Coming into the fight I always had victory in my mind, I visualised myself winning, as I do in every fight… I’m just happy with my performance.”
As he walked through the mixed zone, Team NI performance lead John Conlan wore a contented smile at a job well done, with the tricky Hussain up next for Gallagher tomorrow.
“Niall’s a good kid, we watched a lot of footage on him.
“We prepared for a hard fight, we always do, but one of the tactics was to catch him early – right hand, left hook. Thankfully it worked. It was the right decision [to stop the fight], one more punch and that kid could’ve been seriously hurt.”
