Gort’s Eric Daly has been crowned the new IKF All Ireland Super-lightweight Full Contact Kickboxing Champion.
Daly, who fights out of the Galway Black Dragon Kickboxing Club under coach Pete Foley, put on a masterful display to overcome Northern Ireland champion Paul Brannigan on points at the Black Box Theatre on Saturday night.
The fight, which was set for five rounds, went the full championship distance with Daly taking the first few rounds. Roared on by the home crowd, his all-action approach had Brannigan in trouble in the third round and with a well placed body kick followed by a left and a right body hook, he put the Northerner on the canvas for a count.
Brannigan, however, came back strong in the fifth and actually had Daly on the ropes for the first half of the round, but it was a case of too little too late. At the final bell Daly had won a unanamous victory to secure the title.
A second major fight, a full K-1 Rules heavyweight bout between Aidan Brooks (Pete Foley’s Gym ) and Belfast’s Davy Hamilton was set for three three-minute rounds. However Brooks had other ideas and stopped Hamilton in the first with some vicious leg kicks and Hamilton’s corner stopped the contest.
Full results are as follows: Shane Canavan (Galway ) won by decision over Tommy Teal (Thurles ) (20-18 20-19 20-18 ); Nicholas Hogan (Galway ) won by decision over Keelan Boyce (Donegal ) (20-18 20-19 20-18 ); Adam Canavan (Galway ) drew with Connor Dowling (Kilkenny ); Louise kelly (Galway ) won by decision over Chloe O Brien (Waterford ) (20-19 20-18 20 19 ); James Ward (Galway ) drew with Shane Connell (Waterford ); Bryan Merrigan (Galway ) won by decision over Shane Brown (Derry ) (30-27 30-26 29-28 ); Karen Coffey (Galway ) lost by decision to Ann Marie Bergin (Kilkenny ) (28-27 28-27 28-27 ); Charlie Ward (Galway ) won by TKO round 3 over Nicky Cashin (Kilkenny ); Shawn Gallagher (Donegal ) lost by decision to Andy Mhyers (Dublin ) (30-27 30-26 30-26 ); Adam Keane (Galway ) lost by decision to Chris O Donnell (Derry ) (28-27 28-27 27-28 ); Shane Creaven (Galway ) won by TKO Round 2 over Brian Bartley (Waterford ); Aidan Brooks (Dublin/Galway ) won by TKO Round 1 over Davy Hamilton (Belfast ); Eric Daly (Galway ) won by decision over Paul Brannigan (Tyrone ) (50-43 50-42 49-44 ) (Irish Title Fight ).
