European Super Middleweight champion Brian Magee romped to victory in his first title defence against German-based Armenian Roman Aramian in the Hunky Dorys Fight Night at the National Stadium in Dublin, writes RTÉ Sport's Ed Leahy.
Lisburn Southpaw Magee never looked in trouble and stopped his opponent by technical knockout at the end of the eighth round.
Magee went on the attack from the first bell taking all eight rounds and eventually wore the gutsy Armenian down, who failed to come out for the ninth round on the advice of the referee.
Magee’s intention was obvious from the opening bell, immediately landing a flurry of punches on his shell-shocked opponent, which put the Armenian on the back foot.
It was an easy round for the busy Magee who jabbed at pace throughout, and so it would continue for the remainder of the contest.
It was more of the same in the second round as Magee used his long reach advantage to keep Aramian at distance. Magee slowed the tempo slightly, taking a more measured approach and landed some great jabs from distance in a very controlled performance against the tight defence of his opponent.
The third round saw Aramian eventually go on the offensive moving forward, head down, trying to get close to land his big right.
Magee, however, stayed out of danger in the centre of the ring keeping Aramian at arm’s length. And sure enough, Magee took control of the round in the latter stages, constantly jabbing and eventually Aramian dropped his defence allowing the southpaw to land a couple of big head shots.
Magee again attacked from the bell in the fourth, impressing with some exquisite straight punching combinations, throwing sets of five or six shots at a time.
Aramian now looked clueless and deflated throwing the odd haymaker but landing with nothing. Magee looked in total control and it was more like he was in the gym working a punch bag instead of being embroiled in a European title defence.
It was more of the same from Magee in the fifth with a tough but tired opponent still hoping for the knockout blow trying to force the Lisburn man into the corner. Magee kept it simple jabbing throughout and occasionally punished Aramian with decent body shots.
And the bodyshots had the desired effect as Aramian’s guard was breached on several occasions with Magee landing a couple of great right hooks hurting his opponent.
Magee came out in the sixth looking to finish the job with another barrage of shots landing on the Armenian, but credit to Aramian who appeared to gain his second wind as the round progressed and caused a few problems as he forced Magee onto the ropes.
But Magee weathered that very brief storm with a great display of fitness and boxing ability for the remainder of the round with Aramian happy to hear the bell.
Magee landed a big right early in the seventh and went on the attack forcing Aramian into the corner. Another huge right looked like it would floor his opponent but Aramian stayed on his feet.
Magee regrouped and finished the round on the attack and another accurate combination had Aramian in trouble but the Armenian battled on and made it through to the bell once again.
Aramian was now a fully paid up member of the last chance saloon as he came looking to land a big punch in the eighth but the Armenian was looking weary shaking out his tired arms looking to summon the energy to launch one last attack.
Magee appeared to be taking a rest until the final 30 seconds where he unleashed another barrage. Aramian was now running on guts alone with a swollen face to worry about as well as Magee’s ever-accurate combinations.
And while the Armenian took refuge in his corner after the eighth round, the referee came over for a chat, which that brought an end to the contest as Aramian failed to come out for the ninth round.
Magee celebrated his first defence to the roars of the appreciative Stadium supporters.
Meanwhile, in the second European title bout on the card, Kiko ‘La Sensación’ Martinez lifted the European Super Bantamweight title on points against French-based Armenian, Arsen Martirosyan.
