ON PAPER, Pody McCrory had it all to do on Saturday but ‘the Hammer’ swept Leon Bunn aside in, as TG4 pundit Paddy Donovan described it, “violent fashion” to win the IBO light-heavyweight world title.
McCrory was stepping up in weight against an unbeaten fighter on his home turf and he took the fight at short notice but none of those factors mattered a jot and the west Belfast favourite blasted Bunn out inside six rounds.
The Frankfurt native was down in the second and needed some very considerate attention from the German referee to survive as long as he did but the official did him no favours because the out-gunned fighter took more punishment than he needed to.
After an even-ish first round, Bunn was unable to live with McCrory’s power.
McCrory, a super-middleweight until Saturday night, was much the bigger man and his out-classed opponent was unable to put a dent in him at any stage. All-in-all it was as comprehensive beat-down as you will see and McCrory can look now forward to taking the next step up the ladder.
“I didn’t expect it,” McCrory admitted.
“I was expecting a much tougher fight. After about a minute of the fight I felt really comfortable, I felt Leon Bunn’s power, I timed his speed and I kind of got a sense of what he had and after that I felt really comfortable.
“I felt monstrous in size compared to him and I have many options in terms of moving to whatever weight I want – super-middleweight or light-heavyweight. Winning has opened so many avenues and that is good for me.”
After dropping Bunn twice and having him in serious trouble on several more occasions (the dazed and confused German walked to a neutral corner at the end of the third) McCrory finished the contest with a sledgehammer right hand and became the third Irish fighter (after Anto Cacace and Denis Hogan) to win an IBO world title in the past month.
“I thought after round three it probably could have been stopped,” he said.
“I understand we were in Germany, it was a German referee and he gave him every chance but for the health of the other fighter I don’t think it should have gone on as long as it did.”
While he relaxed with family and friends after the greatest night of his boxing life, McCrory admitted that his achievement hadn’t really sunk in.
“It’s hard to take in,” he said.
“You could see my reaction in the ring – it was full of joy. With my friends and family and fans (which I don’t like to call people) all there, it was just joy.”
What’s next for McCrory? At 34, he wants to make the most of these great boxing days and has already spoken to Conlan Boxing’s Jamie Conlan (who was absolutely right when he predicted that Bunn was “a very winnable fight”) about appearing at the SSE Arena on December 10.
“Jamie says he has already targeted a couple of opponents,” he said.
“It might be for a defence of this title and I know that the IBO super-middleweight title is vacant so I have that option as well. At the minute I feel like the world is my oyster, I have so many options and I put it down to the days when I was boxing on shows and I had to sell tickets and I brought loads of people.
“So I owe all of this to my friends and family who have kept coming to watch me and everything I’ve done and will do is down to them.”
The Devenish Complex in west Belfast will host a celebratory homecoming for the new IBO light-heavyweight champion this evening at 6pm.
Belfast’s road warriors
Germany has been the scene of slim picking for the ‘away’ fighter down the years so the manner of Pody McCrory’s win last Saturday night puts the unassuming Belfast man in very good company. Below are a few memorable wins over home-town favourites for fighters from the city.
Carl Frampton v Leo Santa Cruz (June 2016)
THIS was the second instalment of a wonderful six months in 2016 for Frampton. In February, the Jackal had gone to Manchester and unified his super-bantamweight title by beating Scott Quigg. In June the Jackal bandwagon rolled on to the ‘Big Apple’ and he moved up to featherweight to take on Santa Cruz at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Frampton was close to punch perfect on the night and had Santa Cruz in serious trouble early in a fight which he dominated to become only the second Irish fighter (after Steve Collins) to win world titles in two weight classes.
Wayne McCullough v Yasuei Yakushiji (July 1995)
JAPANESE legend Yakushiji had already defended his WBC bantamweight title five times at his Nagoya fortress when Wayne McCullough – Belfast’s ‘Pocket Rocket’ – came to town in 1995. The odds seemed stacked against Ireland’s Olympic Games hero but he boxed superbly on the night to become world champion.
Brian Magee v Rudy Markussen (February 2012)
MAGEE aged like a fine wine and he saved some of his best performances for the latter stages of his brilliant career. In July 2011, he travelled to San Jose, Costa Rica and out-boxed Jaime Barboza to win the interim (later upgraded to ‘full’) WBA super-middleweight title. He trumped that win in Brondby, Denmark early the following year when he stopped home fighter Markussen in the fifth round.
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KATIE Taylor puts her titles on the line against unbeaten Argentine Karen Elizabeth Carabajal at Wembley Arena on Saturday night (10pm).
The fight – for Taylor’s WBA, WBC, WBO and IBF belts – is at the scene of the 36-year-old Wicklow native’s professional debut back in 2016 and her first outing since her victory over Amanda Serrano in the iconic Madison Square Garden, New York in April.
32-year-old Carabajal (19-0) hails from Buenos Aires and beat Lorena Edith Agoutborde last time out. She is taking a massive step-up in class at the weekend but insists that the belts will be in her luggage when she boards her plane back to South America.
“I was very happy when I received the offer to challenge Katie,” she said.
“The hard work has paid off. I'm not thinking for a second about giving Katie a win and all the belts with come back to Argentina with me.”
Taylor, as ever, remained confident and respectful. Her last outing against Serrano was an out-and-out war and, after the Bray native deservedly won on split decision, there was talk of a rematch at Croke Park. Unfortunately that didn’t materialise but Taylor expects another tough test back where it all began.
“It's hard to believe it's been almost six years since I made by pro debut there so it's great to go back now and headline,” she said.
“It's been an amazing journey so far but there are still lots of great fights out there for me and I'm excited about what's still to come.”
Also in action on Saturday night is fast-improving Dublin lightweight Gary Cully. Pete Taylor’s tall southpaw (14-0) takes on Jaouad Belmehdi (16-3) from France.
