FEARGAL McCrory gave legendary Belfast coach John Breen the perfect 69th birthday present as he ensured late replacement Elvis Guillen exited the building early doors on the Mark H. Dunlop promotion at the Europa Hotel.
The Coalisland native, with Commonwealth title ambitions, initially looked like he wanted to take the Nicaraguan rounds as he stood off twice upon hurting his foe with straight lefts.
But with just seconds remaining in the stanza he changed his mind, piling on the pressure and forcing referee Hugh Russell Jnr to take action 2-46 into the opener.
It somehow took Belfast’s James Tennyson longer to secure stoppage victory on the card. The former super-featherweight world title challenger, with eyes for Matchroom’s Joe Cordina, looks extremely powerful at lightweight and seemed to be doing Brayan Mairena damage from the off.
However, the Nicaraguan showed massive heart and resolve to survive until 2-01 of the second round of a Hugh Russell Jr-refereed affair.
Just before “Tenny” reached stoppage number 20 Cathy McAleer celebrated taking the short route to victory for the first time.
The 40-year-old former kickboxing world champion from Belfast forced Hugh Russell Jnr to jump in 1-21 of the second round of her contest with game Romanian Cristina Busuioc.
Tommy McCarthy bounced back from his defeat to Richard Riakporhe with his second win over Jiri Svacina this year. The “Mac Attack” sent the awkward Czech through the ropes twice in the second round and referee Eamonn Magill had to jump in 2-01 into the third as the Belfast man threatened to do it a third time.
BUI Celtic champion Victor Rabei took a break from TV action and warmed up for his York Hall debut with a points win over Lesther Cantillano. The Moldovan Dubliner registered a comfortable points win and was afforded a shutout 40-36 victory by Eamonn Magill.
The Verdict McCrory and Tennyson do their title ambitions no harm with quick victories.
