Dec 16,2024
Gary Cully saw his career suffer a significant setback after a comprehensive defeat to England's Maxi Hughes on Saturday night in Monaco.
The Kildare boxer was unable to get into a rhythm in the fight and took considerable punishment from Hughes throughout the 10 rounds.
Cully sustained a deep cut over his right eye to further hinder the chances and didn’t trouble his opponent.
The three judges scored the bout 100-90, meaning Cully failed to win a round on every scorecard.
It’s a second loss in four bouts for Cully (18-2-0) after being stopped by Jose Felix in Dublin in May last year.
The WBA lightweight number five - who also lost his continental belt - now faces an uphill task to get to world level, with Hughes (28-2-2) set to move closer to a title bout.
A bad night for Irish boxing continued as Monaghan’s Stephen McKenna tasted defeat for the first time in his career, against another English opponent, Lee Cutler, in their WBC International super-welterweight contest.
McKenna hit the canvas twice over the 10 rounds as he lost by majority decision, 94-94, 95-93 and 96-92 at Exhibition Centre Liverpool.
The away fighter had a record of 15-0 with 14 KOs going into the fight though it had been anticipated Cutler would provide the toughest test of his career so far.
"It was a very close fight," McKenna told Sky Sports afterwards.
"I thought I won it. It could have gone either way. I just have to take it on the chin. I trained very hard for this fight, I have no excuses. Maybe we can do the rematch in the future and maybe in Ireland."
Meanwhile one of the biggest all-Irish clash of recent times was confirmed yesterday with Belfast’s Lewis Crocker (20-0, 11 KOs) and Limerick's Paddy Donovan (14-0, 11 KOs) set to meet in the SSE Arena in Belfast on 1 March next year.
Crocker has revealed that the bout between two rising stars will be an IBF world title eliminator for the mandatory challenger position to face welterweight champion Jaron Ennis.
Matchroom Boxing are promoting the bout and have promised an impressive undercard with huge interest likely in two of Ireland’s best and currently unbeaten fighters.
