LAMONT Roach Jr stopped Feargal McCrory in round eight to successfully defend his WBA World super-featherweight title. Boxing in front of his hometown fans, Lamont moved through the gears at all the right times to break down a brave but overmatched opponent.
Roach was looking sharp from the first bell, timing all-action McCrory with counter shots, mostly starting on the left hook. The Irish southpaw challenger only knows one way to fight: coming forward, throwing aggressive shots to head and body, which left natural openings.
McCrory’s wide hooks to the body were landing in round two, but Roach’s straight-to-the-point returns had Feargal on jelly legs in the last 30 seconds as a left hook to the body and head landed for the champion.
McCrory touched down in round three when Roach landed a check left hook. It was becoming a struggle and McCrory tasted the canvas twice in round four, both times from body shots.
‘Reaper’ Roach loved the left hook to the body. The headshots weren’t too shabby, either. Roach piled on the pressure in round eight and McCrory’s corner pulled him out.
Roach Jr is now 24-1-1 (9 KOs). McCrory drops to 16-1 (8 KOs).
On the undercard, Lester Martinez retained his unbeaten record with a 10-round decision victory over southpaw veteran Carlos Gongora at super-middleweight.
In a lightweight 10-rounder, Alex Dilmaghani’s corner and the referee combined to withdraw him in between the seventh and eighth against a rampant Rene Tellez Giron.
Rianna Rios defeated Mary Romero over eight rounds at bantamweight.
Debutant Ben Johnson dropped Michael Williams three times on the way to a first-round KO at welterweight.
