Former bantamweight world champion Jason Moloney earned a bloody victory over awkward American Andre Donovan to retain his IBF intercontinental and WBC Australasian bantamweight straps, as Max McIntyre and Conor Wallace also kept themselves in the picture for higher honours.
On a bloody Thursday night at Brisbane's Fortitude Music Hall, Jason Moloney overcame a deep cut in the 10th round to keep on track for a return to boxing's highest level with a unanimous points decision victory over American Andre Donovan .
Despite adding his blood to an already splattered ring in Brisbane, Moloney earned 97-92 scores on all three judges' cards in a brutal fight as his awkward American opponent was deducted a point for holding in the eighth round.
"When I saw the little bit of footage of him, I thought, this is the sort of guy that can drag you into a dogfight and make you look real ordinary," the always affable and engaging Moloney told ABC Sport in the ring. "I thought, if I box him how I know I can, and fight my fight, I can do this comfortably. And I didn't.
"And look, hats off to him. He was obviously very hungry … He was smothering me, he was charging me, he was putting his head in — I just couldn't keep my range and fight my fight.
"But at the top level, man, you've got to be able to do better than that. I'm being hard on myself, I know, but that's why I continue to improve because I'm not satisfied with something like that.
"It was lucky it was only the last round that got the head clash. We hit heads about at least 20 times in there, every time he got in close.
"I wasn't meaning to hold, but I had to stop his head charging to me, or it was going to be a bloodbath. " Fighting is rarely pretty, but even accounting for that, the gruesome reminders of this brutal business left the Fortitude Valley canvas looking like a macabre Jackson Pollock parody. In the co-main event, Conor Wallace was badly split in the fourth round by the head of gurning Argentine Walter Sequeira.
Wallace was using this as a keep-busy contest after 10 months out the ring and, as always, the rangy, Ireland-born light heavyweight bought plenty of entertainment to proceedings. Sequeira play-acted the clown throughout, grinning and showboating through the first two rounds — Wallace, a willing participant in his comical charade that peaked with both men screaming in each other's faces at the end of the third.
However, the copious blood-letting sharpened both men's focus — a reminder that one doesn't play at boxing — forcing Wallace to work the body to such an extent that Sequeira took a knee in the fifth, and then uttered a final "no more" in the sixth. Getty Images: Chris HydeThe most bloody fight had taken place earlier, though, when Max McIntyre turned Tej Pratap Singh's nose into a horrifying faucet from their early, showman-like exchanges.
A stylish and classy 21-year-old with fast feet and faster hands, the 192-centimetre-tall McIntyre has stood out since he first stepped into a ring for both his boxing skill, ringcraft and the more intangible quality, presence. The youngster has proven himself to be an entertainer, that most valuable of commodities in a field of thousands, where any stand-out feature can help elevate a fighter to an enduring spot in fight fans' memories.
There is a degree of arrogance that verges on the unhealthy as McIntyre can't help but showboat — by the end of the first, he was posturing and preening, arms low, hands on hips, in a way completely at odds with the severity of the situation in front of him. Singh's white shorts were soon splattered with blood that was flowing freely from his nose by the end of the first, blood that was soon also smeared across McIntyre's back and spotting the ring and those in the front row, a sickening reminder of the visceral impact of those bludgeoning fists.
A question boxing fans have wrestled with since boxing was first codified, is how can such a violent pursuit ever be considered art; such a blood-flecked portrait of pain ever be considered beautiful? At his best, McIntyre's youthful flourishes encourage this paradox — and as Singh's blood stained the ring and everyone in it, McIntyre's swiftness, bobbing and darting style revealed that such a furious dance can have joy within it.
Singh's relentless forward pressure belied the visible signs of his discomfort, his blood flecking McIntyre's white shoes and staining his white gloves a nauseating shade of claret over their eight rounds of combat. It was only in the final round when the towel was thrown in by Singh's corner that the durable opponent was saved at the very end from further punishment when no chance of victory was possible.
McIntyre flexed his hands after they were removed from his gloves as if in awe at what they had been able to dish out without the veteran hitting the canvas. Nevertheless, McIntyre's knockout streak continues, a 10th professional win with nine coming inside the distance, a record not to be sniffed at. Supplied: Tasman FightersSitting ringside at a fight, close enough to see the intense focus revealed in the whites of each fighter's eyes, is an incredibly intimate experience.
The opening bout saw Xavier Fletcher take on Bongani Sibanda in a furious and keenly contested six-round middleweight bout. The cool environs of the Fortitude Music Hall meant little as the men in the ring went about their visceral work, sweat beading on each fighter's exposed backs, dissipating in a fine mist with each brutal exchange. Before long, both men's mouths were permanently parted, the bloating caused in part by their mouthguards, but mostly due to their significant exertions.
It was hard to split the fighters' ringside. The judges felt so too — a split decision draw the verdict. The judge on my side of the ring, Brandon Wood, scored it 58-56 to Sibanda, a score that this reporter was inclined to agree with. Opposite us, though, the score was 57-57, while to our right, Fletcher did enough to earn that judge's approval 59-55.
Debutant Suliaman Guushaa positively skipped his way into the ring, roared on by a huge amount of support from the balcony. The final few seconds before a fight begins must be of supreme clarity for a fighter. The support in the stands, the final words of encouragement from the coaches — it's all just background noise before it is you versus the man opposite.
That wry smile from Guushaa betrayed enormous confidence in himself, a reassurance both for himself, for those watching — including his mother at home — that he was in the right place. Yet after his seconds — Jeff Horn's former trainer Glenn Rushton among them — exited the ring, Guushaa's face resumed its mask of concentration, a hint of apprehension flickering across his furrowed brow as he stared into the face of his opponent.
But the former Australian Golden Glove winner needn't have worried, a thunderous body shot that doubtless could have been heard with brutal clarity even up in the balcony areas, sending Scottie Williams to one knee amidst roars of delight from the crowd inside the opening minute. ABC Sport Daily is your daily sports conversation. We dive into the biggest story of the day and get you up to speed with everything else that's making headlines.
The fight lasted not much longer after that first shot, a 90-second study of unmitigated dominance from the youngster that promises plenty more to come. The next fights followed a similar vein, Austin Aokuso sending his overmatched Chinese fighter Wulamu Tulake to the canvas two times in short succession to claim the WBC Australasian light heavyweight strap, before Irishman Chris O'Reilly landed a power right flush on Josh Hatherley, sending the Aussie staggering back against the ropes before the referee stepped in to save the clearly stunned fighter from further punishment.
The heavily-muscled man from Drogheda, whose admirable amateur record suggests a successful career in the paid ranks, moved to a professional record of 4-0 to the delight of the multitudinous Irish supporters ringside. Another with lofty aspirations is Ben Mahoney, who earned a tight unanimous decision over a "shattered" Dan Hill in their IBF Pan-Pacific super welterweight clash.
Mahoney sat back throughout, counter-punching with startling clarity, rapping his shots off the skeletal orbital bones of Hill, who was desperately unhappy about the decision, although few observers aside from the desperately one-eyed could have too much of an issue with the cards of 96-94, 97-93 and 97-93. Sports content to make you think... or allow you not to. A newsletter delivered each Saturday.
Jason Moloney Max Mcintyre Austin Aokuso Ben Mahoney Conor Wallace Andre Donovan Taj Pratap Singh
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