On Saturday night, highly touted Irish featherweight contender Patrick “The Punisher” Hyland, of Dublin, headlined an exciting 11-bout pro-am card held at the Theater at Madison Square Garden, in New York City, titled “McMayhem in Midtown”. The evening was promoted by DiBella Entertainment, in association with Ring of Fire Promotions and Murphys Boxing, and sponsored by Manfredi Auto Group and Everlast.
Facing southpaw Manuel De Los Reyes Herrera, 128, of Planeta Rica, Colombia, Hyland, 127¼, kept pumping his jab forcing his foe on the back-foot for the entire first round. Whenever in close, Hyland would unleash swift, crackling combinations to the head and body. In round two, with Hyland pinning Herrera to the ropes, the pair stood toe-to-toe trading power shots to the delight of the crowd. Setting up stinging straight rights that snapped Herrera’s head back in the third, Hyland was visibly breaking down the Colombian. A pulverizing right uppercut to the midsection brought Herrera to his knees for a full count at 1:04 of round four. With the victory, Hyland, now 30-1 (14 KOs), moved another step closer toward title contention. Herrera’s record dropped to 21-16-1 (15 KOs).
Ozone Park, New York’s popular light heavyweight contender-turned-firefighter Will “Power” Rosinsky, 174½, ended a two-year-plus ring absence, impressively halting Paul Gonsalves, 173¾, at 2:59 of the opening round. Looking very sharp, Rosinsky, a four-time New York Golden Gloves champion, scored four knockdowns overall. The first came halfway through the frame when Rosinsky landed a left hook to the body. After Gonsalves got to his feet, Rosinsky, now 18-2 (10 KOs), was determined to finish him off, scoring the final three knockdowns with dynamite straight right hands to the head. Gonsalves, from Harwich, Mass., is now 7-6-1 (3 KOs).
Promoted by Murphys Boxing, which is fronted by Ken Casey of the Celtic rock band Dropkick Murphys, Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan, 164¼, of Cork, Ireland, took on the tough Milton Nunez, 165, of Barranquilla, Colombia, in a scheduled eight-round super middleweight contest. From the opening bell, O’Sullivan applied pressure, often trapping Nunez against the ropes and pounding away at the body with powerful hooks. O’Sullivan was particularly effective when following up with his overhand rights upstairs. Nunez tried to counter O’Sullivan’s aggression, but none of what he landed had any effect on the Irishman. In round three, a combination finally put the tiring Nunez on the canvas. When he arose, O’Sullivan stalked him around the ring, rarely missing a punch, until a sweeping left hook to the chin staggered Nunez once again, leading to the referee’s stoppage at 2:20 of the frame. O’Sullivan upped his record to 20-1 (13 KOs), while Nunez fell to 28-13-1 (25 KOs).
The amateur portion of the card featured the tie-breaking third meeting between the FDNY’s Bravest Boxing team and the Garda Siochana Boxing team of the Irish National Police Force. Winning seven of the eight matches, the FDNY earned the 2015 Transatlantic Championship.
