‘Triple D’ – ‘Dangerous’ Danny Duffy – will be eyeing up some domestic title tilts soon after his latest pro win.
By Chris McNulty, Ringside at the Finn Valley Centre
Mexican Lakshmy Zaragoza Contreras came to Stranorlar upset the odds – but Duffy took a comfortable victory at the Finn Valley Centre on Saturday night.
After six super-bantamweight rounds of the Fight Night at the Valley 2 headliner, Duffy, who is now 4-0, was scored the winner of each round by the third man in the ring, referee David Irving.
In front of a raucous 500 capacity crowd, on a show promoted by Jason Quigley, Raphoe Boxing Club man Duffy, the Irish amateur bantamweight champion in 2023 was on top in the first round and tested the chin of the 29-year-old in the second with a sharp right paw.
A straight right onto the buzzer by Duffy – who had Gary McCullagh and Gerard Keaveney with him in the red corner – hoisted the decibels just before the went to the stools at the end of the second.
The pair had both stepped on the scales on Friday evening at 55kgs. Duffy was back for another shot at the bullseye in the fourth round of his first six-rounder.
Duffy defeated Scouse showman Ricky Starkey on points in October in an entertaining four-rounder at the Aura Leisure Complex in Letterkenny in October. Duffy had earlier wins over Jake Pollard and Steven Maguire, but had a prospective headliner in Stranorlar shelved in February due to a medical issue.
The 25-year-old was handed a swift chance of his first bill-topper – and he took it with both hands.
Contreras had gone the distance in 14 of his last 16 contests – and took Donagh Keary to six rounds in Belfast recently.
Duffy stayed in control of things to the last to claim the win on a wide points decision.
Rhys Owens moved to 4-0 with an impressive points win over Erick Omar Lopez in the co-main.
‘Lights Out’ was given the nod in each of the six rounds of their super-featherweight fight.
The high-octane contest was bossed by Owens, who had a more-than-willing opponent.
Owens, who brought a huge crowd from just over the border in Enniskillen, was up for the fight from the off. Lopez, a 63-bout veteran, all the way from Guadalajara in Mexico, hadn’t arrived down the Millbrae in Stranorlar to just take part.
Lopez landed a couple of timely reminders to Owens after the Fermanagh man testing the toughness of his ribs.
The 24-year-old Owens went back upstairs for a visit before the end of the opening verse. The two traded a couple of heavy blows in the second and Owens had to be careful in moments when Lopez was energised.
When Owens cut through the bright red gloves of his 32-year-old in the second when Lopez dared him to keep coming.
Owens, who tipped the scales at 60.1kgs, tacked Lopez into the blue corner for long passages of the third round.
Lopez was no stranger to Irish opponents. “Habanerito” lost to Cian Doyle in April and was beaten by Cain Lewis last year.
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Owens, formerly of the Erne Boxing Club in Enniskillen, came to Donegal for the second time as a pro boasting an unblemished 3-0 record. He debuted in Letterkenny last October, stopping Stefan Nicolae in the third of four scheduled rounds. Owens went to Belfast for points wins over Jorge Luis Huerta Balleza and Yahir Alexander Solorio Morales in the months since.
The volume went up with Lopez breathing heavily under a barrage of blows from Owens in the third – and the night continued in the same vein as Owens extended his professional record.
David Weir made his home debut with a win over Dominic Pajaczek in a charity exhibition.
After the three round welterweight clash, Weir was declared the winner.
The Ardara native, a late entrant to the sport coming off the back of two wins recently in Dubai, was cornered by Jason Quigley and Gerard Keaveney. Weir’s entry brought the biggest cheer of the night so far, the south west Donegal man’s ring walk taking the roof off the venue.
Kian Hedderman continued his rapid KO record when he halted Bartosz Oles in the second stanza of their light-heavyweight dust-up.
The St Francis BC, Limerick graduate, who has sparred with the likes of Joseph Parker and Ben Whittaker, sparked Oles in front of the blue corner inside the opening minute of the second round.
Oles, coming from Poland with a 1-1 record, became the latest man to fall on Hedderman’s hard-hitting sword.
The 22-year-old, trained by Paddy Donovan’s father, Martin, stopped Alexandru Crasnitchii at the 3Arena last September, also in the second round. Later in the year, Hedderman stopped Mateusz Piorkowski at the Aura Leisure Centre after just 1:55 of the first round.
Derry’s Simon Clarke got his professional journey underway with a win. The super-lightweight southpaw was handed a 40-36 points win over Marcin Ficner on the card of bout referee David Irving.
Clarke, a former amateur with St Joseph’s BC in the Maiden City, was snapped up by Ian Gaughran of IGB recently after the Dan Boyle-trained super-lightweight teased the possibilities on Instagram.
Clarke unleashed a flurry in the first, but the 57-fight veteran from Poland stuck to the task. Ficner, out of Bytom in Poland, went to the close of the bout – but Clarke had too much in his tank.
Donegal native Danny Boyle opened the night with a points win over Richard Vaczi.
Dungloe man Boyle has been a long time out of the ring, but did enough here to earn the nod from referee Paul McCullough, 40-36, in a super-middleweight four-rounder.
Boyle, who weighed in 5.3kgs heavier than his Hungarian opponent, hadn’t fought since a win over Daniel Borisov at the Aura Leisure Complex in Letterkenny in late 2023.
The 29-year-old is back on track again. The game Vaczi came to fight and did manage to land his pink mitts on Boyle in spells.
Backed by a big home crowd, Boyle, behind his left jab, tried to gain control of the opening verse, but Vaczi always looked like he might be dangerous.
Boyle landed a sharp, low right to the liver in the second and while Vaczi looked gassed in the third he went to the final bell with the home fighter unloading a couple of flurries in the fourth.