Fight Night MSG: December 14/15 on Eir Sports 2 @ 02:00

too feather fisted i feel.

yeah easy enough win but hard to see him going to the top.

The Crawford fight was surprisingly both exciting and competitive. I get the feeling that crawford wasn't fully trained and when he started getting hit he just decided to go for the KO.

Lopez look great, with him and Haney there are now a couple of decent fights for Lomachenko next year.

Crawford vs Mean Machine.

Only getting to this now! This promised to be better than the deflating night the previous saturday and for $56 I arrived in perfect time to see Cork fighter Noel Murphy in a 10 round super lightweight clash against a confident local Vargas.

From the start southpaw Murphy’s right hand was too low and while he was durable and brave he just didnt have the firepower to hurt Vargas but can be proud to be still there at the end as he got rocked repeatedly in the seventh. A good scrap in front of an impressive enough crowd but no complaints with the UD.












Then redemption! A chance for Conlan to put this guy away and move on. I had watched the Olympic fight the night before and was still amazed at the first round scoring.










Nikitin while limited can cause trouble and is incredibly determined but Conlan deserved this even he fought within himself. Maybe everything surrounding this affected him which is only natural but the crowd were getting restless thinking there would be a quick revenge KO!

Almost straight away Conlan switched to southpaw and nothing much happened until Conlan shoved him to the canvas in the third.

Got the feeling that Conlan would step it up in the latter rounds as the Russin had never fought a full 10 rounds before but to be fair he was still there particularly in the eighth when they both traded with Conlan waving at the fans at the bell.

It was a confident display and while I thought the scoring was a wee bit generous this was one he needed to get out of the way. Whether he’s capable of stepping up in the fashion of the following fight remains to be seen.













I was impressed with Conlan at the end as he was great with the locals at ringside and with the media. In today's landscape these skills are crucial.


Next up was Lopez v Commey. I had seen Lopez win on the undercard of the last Crawford fight here earlier in the year and was impressed that he was getting a World title shot in his 15th fight. But Lopez is a product of his age where getting viral is incredible important and his backflip celebration together with his strength and explosiveness made him a viable challenger.

The Ghanian entered with that Champion aura:





And didn’t start too badly getting a rhythm going in the first. But in the second round Lopez connected with an absolute peach of a right hand that completely annihilated Commey. He tried to get up but his legs were absolute jelly and then obviously the taller fighter was unsteady and the inevitable happened. It was an incredible sight and a hell of a statement and Lopez is now legit.

Lomachenko was ringside and was in the ring after for a picture with the new Champion but there seemed to be no cordials as there was when Lopez gave Commey so much respect after.









This set up the main event beautifully and I wanted to see Crawford tested as last time Khan just quit.





His opponent the Lithuanian Kavaliauskas’ nickname was apt as he connected with a great combination in the second and hurt him again in the third with a right that was incorrectly ruled a slip but Champions in any sport can get the benefit of the doubt. It was smart by Crawford as he was clearly hurt but wrapped his arms around his opponent as he fell so the ref could be excused for calling it a slip.

This seemed to be the wake up call as the Champ began to land more power in the following rounds with the end of the seventh seeing the Lithuanian floored with a crushing right. Crawford finished it in the ninth but he was given an excellent test by an unbeaten methodical hard puncher. Interesting that the KO came when he switched back from southpaw.











Crawford is savage and is deservedly up there for pound for pound but the Spence clash has to happen as he needs a name on his resume.

A very good night of boxing.