Pierce O’Leary picked up the biggest win of his professional career and the IBO junior welterweight title with an impressive sixth-round finish of Maxi Hughes in Dublin, Ireland.
Hughes had accepted the tough task of facing O’Leary on just four weeks' notice after the original slated opponent, Mark Chamberlain, withdrew with an injury. Hughes, who has turned down many attempts from promoters to box at 140lbs in the past, had decided to take the challenge above his natural division of lightweight. It was always going to be tough for Hughes against the hard-hitting Irishman, but Hughes never stopped trying. In the end, he was compassionately saved ahead of the sixth session by his cornerman Sean O’Hagan after five one-sided rounds that had caused his right eye to close.
Dublin’s O’Leary, now 19-0 (11 KOs), pushed forwards from the opening bell in front of his home crowd. The pace was frightening, and although the fleet-footed Hughes was managing to move out of the way of the majority of O’Leary’s shots, he was taking heavy artillery to the body. O’Leary was targeting any bit of flesh on Hughes’ midsection that he could land a glove on. The Irishman banged away at the arms and even hips at times of Hughes as he moved around the ring.
O’Leary, 26, was suffocating Hughes with his relentless workrate, pressing him into every corner before landing his bombs to the head and body. It was getting increasingly difficult for Hughes, and in the fourth the Yorkshire veteran started to come apart. A fierce left hook rocked Hughes right to his boots, and another shook him even more moments later. Both shots had landed on Hughes’s right eye socket and it instantly began to swell. O’Leary smelt blood and continued to bang away at his man, but Hughes fought bravely to finish the session.
The damage to Hughes’ eye could be seen as he prepared to take another beating heading into the fifth, and it seemed O’Hagan was already considering pulling his man out. Hughes was allowed to continue, but O’Hagan was watching closely with the towel in hand. It was again a tough session for Hughes once more, with O’Leary again bullying him around the ring. O’Leary was enjoying himself, seemingly knowing that it was only a matter of time before he secured the finish. As both men returned to their corners, O’Hagan had already made his mind up and broke the news to Hughes that he was going to call it. Hughes looked deflated as the bout was waved off, and now at 29-9-2 (6 KOs) and 36 years, it could be the last time we see Hughes in the ring.
Irish amateur standout Adam Olaniyan made short work of Jan Bezouka in his professional debut. The 20 year old heavyweight from Tallaght, Ireland has joined Frank Warren’s already impressive stable of big men and is trained by Paul Stevenson in Liverpool, England. Olaniyan was pitted with the fleshy Bezouska, now 2-3 (2 KOs), as his first opponent in pro-ranks and blasted straight through him. Bezouska, 44, looked helpless from the opening bell and he was down not long later from a sharp right hand. Bezouska slowly lumbered to his feet but was again sent back to the canvas seconds later. Bezouska then squirmed a little on the floor before the referee Paul McCullagh decided to wave the contest off after just 59 seconds. Olaniyan barely broke a sweat, but will certainly be one to look out for over the coming years as he develops further.
