Michael Conlan defeats TJ Doheny for WBA Interim Featherweight Title

Michael Conlan vs. TJ Doheny

Belfast, Northern Ireland 6/8/21

Michael Conlan became the new WBA Interim Featherweight Champion after defeating TJ Doheny by unanimous decision on Friday in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

The judges’ scorecards were 119-108, 116-111, and 116-111, with which the 29-year-old fighter gets the black and gold belt in an action-packed battle against a great opponent like Doheny.

Conlan came into the ring determined to get the belt and his dominance was evident from the very first moment. The London 2012 Olympic bronze medalist worked the body well, was aggressive and managed to take the lead against the former world champion Doheny, known for his overwhelming style.

In the fifth round, Conlan landed a combination to the body that forced his opponent to put his knee on the ground for the only knockdown of the fight. The new champion changed his guard on several occasions to confuse Doheny and in the end had a better fight plan that helped him get the win.

“Mick” remains undefeated in 16 fights, with 8 KOs, while Doheny dropped his record to 22 wins, 3 losses, and 16 KOs.

Elsewhere on the card, Lee McGregor (11-0, 9 KOs) retained his European bantamweight title with a stoppage win over previously undefeated Vincent Legrand (32-1, 17 KOs).

McGregor overcame adversity in the fight, getting up from a knockdown in round two, before firing in a big body shot that sent Legrand to the canvas in the forth round, with the Frenchman unable to get back to his feet, securing McGregor the win.

Tyrone McKenna (22-2-1, 6 KOs) won the vacant WBO Intercontinental super-lightweight title, after coming out on top in a war against dangerous Jose Felix (39-5-1, 30 KOs).

It was non-stop action throughout all 10 rounds, with Felix going down in round one, and McKenna then going down in round three. It was McKenna who dominated large portions of the fight, and the judges scored it 99-91, 97-92, 97-91 to come out on top.

Padraig McCrory (12-0, 6 KOs) picked up the biggest win of his career, stopping Sergei Gorokhov (11-3-2, 7 KOs) to win the WBC International Silver super-middleweight title.

McCrory dropped Gorokhov in the fourth round, appearing to break the Russian’s nose in the process, and after another round of punishment, the referee waved off the bout in round five to hand McCrory the biggest win of his professional career.

Sean McComb (12-1, 5 KOs) returned to winning ways with a dominant points win over former world title challenger Vicente Martin Rodriguez, with the referee scoring it 80-72 in his favour.

On the undercard, there was a first round stoppage win for Fearghus Quinn over Fernando Heredia, while James McGivern and Callum Bradley picked up one-sided points wins over Ed Harrison and Stefan Nicolae respectively.

(Kristian von Sponneck)

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