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Belfast Telegraph Home > Sport
Boxing: Champion McCullough
has sights on treble title glory
By
David Kelly
28 October 2006
Mark McCullough was
the class act of the Co Antrim Intermediate championships.
Last night in the
Holiday Inn, Belfast, the Shankill Road lad produced a dazzling
display of boxing to win the bantamweight title.
Brendan Conlon of St
John Bosco tried everything he could but the electric speed of
McCullough burned him on every occasion.
Conlon was forced to
take a count in the second round after a rapid right hand and
another just before the bell to end the round as the Cairn Lodge
lad uncorked his flashing blows.
The 16-year-old Boys
Model pupil was handed victory in the third on the outclassed
rule when the difference was 15 points - 17-2.
"I'm delighted with
that. Now I'm looking forward to the Ulster intermediates and I
would also like to be going for the Ulster seniors if all goes
to plan," said McCulllough, who had former British bantamweight
champion Tommy Waite in his corner.
"I'll be 17 next
month so I will be old enough to go for the seniors, assuming
that I'm ready for them.
"My speed seemed to
be the difference, I was just able to catch him with
everything."
In the eagerly
anticipated middleweight decider, Padraig McCrory of St John's
came out on top, stopping Joe Hillerby of Sandy Row in the
fourth round.
After an even,
scrappy opening round McCrory had a 2-1 lead but a 9-3 gap in
his favour seemed a little harsh on Hillerby at the midway
point.
But then McCrory's
extra strength started to tell and he was also handed an extra
two points when Hillerby was given a controversial warning for
holding.
Then McCrory managed
to tag Hillerby with solid right hands, which led to the Sandy
Row lad receiving a count.
A further count came
in the fourth. McCrory stayed on top and then forced the
stoppage.
Clonard's Christopher
McCann was a very impressive winner in the welterweight final,
stopping Denis Lancaster of Sacred Heart Newry in the first
round.
McCann, 17, forced
Lancaster to take a count early on, though seemed more of a
slip, but there was no mistake as his opponent went down from a
right hook and the referee wisely called a halt.
McCann's clubmate
Conor Tohill took the light-heavyweight title but only after an
anxious wait in the opening round when the doctor stopped the
contest due to a swelling under his right eye.
The decision went to
the computer and Tohill was given a 6-4 win over Braid's Daniel
Brown.
Donal Burns of Gleann
was simply too strong for Eastside's Michael Harvey and forced
an outclassed stoppage in the third round at lightweight.
Burns' clubmate
Patrick Gallagher was a first round winner at light-welter,
stopping Jason Pedlow of St John Bosco.
Gerard Gilmore of
Abbey won the Coca-Cola Trophy with a 13-11 decision over Oliver
Plunkett's Paddy Reilly.
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