Click on the arrows to go through the photos by Joe Boland (North West Newspix) A night after the hideous charade involving Mike Tyson and Jake Paul, the very grassroots of boxing showed the sport’s true value in Raphoe on Saturday night. Raphoe Boxing Club’s annual tournament, featuring 13 bouts, was in marked contrast to the depressing ‘exhibition’ put on by the 58-year-old Tyson and YouTuber-turned-boxer Paul. The big crowd at Deele College saw real honest endeavour right throughout. The final bout of the bill, a senior middleweight showdown between Raphoe BC’s Eunan McLaughlin and Shea McLarnon of St John’s, was in keeping with the tale of this tape. McLaughlin landed a super shot on McLarnon at the outset before having his buzzer bloodied by the Swatragh man soon after. As the crimson trickled, McLaughlin’s reaction was good and the Strabane man nailed a good right hook at the close of the first verse. Early in the second round, with the blood still seeping and international referee Sadie Duffy keeping a close watch on things, McLaughlin needed the attention of the ringside medic, Donna Barr, herself no stranger to boxing’s big stage. A two-time Irish Elite finalist, Barr is a former team-mate of Katie Taylor and Kellie Harrington having been Ireland’s light-flyweight competitor at the 2016 AIBA Women’s World Championships in Kazakhstan. Barr gave the green light to McLaughlin, who did further spade work in a useful second stanza. In the third, McLarnon required a bloodied nose of his own seen to by Barr. Red specks doused the vests of both participants with McLaughlin - brother of recently-turned professional boxer Cathal McLaughlin - getting to work again on the resumption. The cards were almost a complete clean sweep for McLaughlin, who took a unanimous decision. One judge gave McLarnon the third round, but everything else was McLaughlin’s way. An excellent final round by Garbhan Patton cemented a unanimous decision in his clash with Twin Towns’ Callum O’Loughlin in a
In pictures: Raphoe Boxing Club tournament delivers reminder of boxing's real beauty
Raphoe Boxing Club’s annual tournament, featuring 13 bouts, drew a big crowd to Deele College and they saw real honest endeavour right throughout the night
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Click on the arrows to go through the photos by Joe Boland (North West Newspix)
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Click on the arrows to go through the photos by Joe Boland (North West Newspix)
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Click on the arrows to go through the photos by Joe Boland (North West Newspix)
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Click on the arrows to go through the photos by Joe Boland (North West Newspix)
