Belfast’s Conor Quinn tasted defeat for the first time as a pro at the SSE Arena on Friday night as he lost on a majority decision to England’s Conner Kelsall in their Commonwealth flyweight title fight.
The Doncaster man came through on two of the cards (116-112, 115-114) with one giving 114-114 even, to leave the home support stunned.
It was a tactical battle between the pair as the visitor had the fight more on his terms as he didn’t allow the Belfast man to apply any sustained pressure, perhaps his tactics that weren’t exactly set for a thriller winning the day.
He applied constant movement with fine footwork and was good off the jab, with Quinn unable to fully gather a head of steam.
Kelsall made the brighter start, circling and letting the jab go as Quinn seemed content to take the centre of the ring and take a look, shooting the jab to the body.
Again, the visitor was up on his toes and throwing the fast jab in the second, bringing the right into play but the Belfast man began to open up and show a little more variety as he was settling into it.
There were just a few signs Quinn was starting to solve the puzzle in the third, a whisker away from a looping right early and his stiff jab snapping the visitor’s head back.
With Kelsall circling to his left, Quinn timed a right to greet him and this was exactly what he seemed to have been scheming, gradually closing the distance without falling into the trap of chasing the Englishman.
Kelsall’s ‘disciplined approach’
It was certainly a bit of a chess match as Kelsall was boxing clever as Quinn couldn’t quite get sustained pressure against an ever-moving target that was darting in an out on occasion to score.
Quinn enjoyed a good eighth as he seemed to be catching up with Kelsall, the body work slowing him a little and starting to thud home and had another good round in the ninth with his timing now a little better as he put punches together.
But Kelsall was disciplined in his approach as his movement was not allowing Quinn to take this by the scruff and make it a fight on his terms, content to box and move.
It seemed to be a case of what you like, Kelsall’s jab excellent all night but Quinn delivering a nice combo and vicious body shot in a close 11th.
Kelsall certainly thought he was the winner as he took on on a victory lap with 20 seconds to go, Quinn allowing him to do it as he too thought he had done enough.
But as it was, the visitor would take the title and improve to 12-0, while Quinn slips to 9-1-1.
Earlier in the night, Belfast’s Colm Murphy claimed the ‘silver’ Commonwealth featherweight title as a bloodied Jack Turner was stopped in the tenth and final round on cuts.
Another native from the south of the city, James McGivern, produced a KO of the year contender as he flattened previously undefeated Rashid Omar in the second with a beauty of a left to retain his BUI Celtic lightweight title and improve to 9-0.
In the co-main, Pierce O’Leary was at his brilliant best to win the battle of Dublin, dropping Darragh Foley in the third with an uppercut en-route to a shutout points win. Australia-based Foley was all heart, but just couldn’t match ‘Big Bang’ who is now perfect through 15.
