Paddy Barnes has claimed his first professional title in his native Belfast after a majority-decision victory over Silvio Olteanu at the Waterfront Hall.
Three-time Olympian Barnes picked up the WBO European flyweight belt, a stepping-stone title that more significantly comes with a top-15 world ranking with that governing body, which means the 30-year-old’s hopes of chasing an early world-title shot remain on track.
Olteanu (now 16-12-1) presented a relatively testing challenge for Barnes at such an early stage of his paid career. Although the 29-fight veteran is 39 years old, he is a former holder of the more-recognised EBU European title, while the Madrid-based Romanian previously challenged for a world title in 2010.
And the visitor certainly lived up to expectations in terms of offering a credible test, resulting in a slightly-questionable draw on one judge’s card.
Barnes had stated in the build-up that he was keen to pace himself, rather than maintaining the lightening tempo he was known for in three-round amateur bouts. And the 30-year-old did just that in the opening round, boxing at a steady rhythm and landing clean, single shots.
The second and third rounds were more competitive, however as Olteanu –wearing blue shorts with yellow trim – upped his work-rate against the home favourite, who wore black shorts carrying his self-depreciating ‘Leprechaun’ nickname.
By the fourth, both men were trading liberally although Barnes continued to maintain the slightly cleaner work to body and head.
The game Romanian – possibly eager to make a mockery of bookies pricing Barnes as 1/100 pre-fight favourite – pushed and pressured in the fifth before the home fighter responded with a couple of late uppercuts.
The fights also marked the first time that Barnes went above five rounds in his career – his previous WSB bouts having been capped at that distance – and the sixth followed a similar pattern to the preceding round as the Belfast native landed a peach of a left hook bang on the bell.
Busy flurries from Barnes gained the approval of a scattered Waterfront Hall crowd over the following couple of rounds.
The 30-year-old was impressively managing the 10-round distance, moving energetically and showing good footwork, before beginning to slow down in the penultimate round as he attempted to evade the determined visitor, who continued to admirably offer a rugged effort.
A left hook stumbled Olteanu early in the 10th and final round, but the Romanian continued to press forward against a tired Barnes.
The former European amateur champion had done enough by that stage, however, and he took a points win on the cards of judges Phil Edwards (97-94) and Zoltan Enyedi (97-93), with only Olteana’s Romanian compatriot Mihai Leu scoring it a 95-95 draw.
@paddyb_ireland is the new WBO European Flyweight Champion after a majority decision win over Silvio Olteanu in Belfast. pic.twitter.com/HmPe5Z97vn
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) June 17, 2017
An entertaining undercard contained a number of Barnes’ gym-mates from Matthew Macklin’s MTK Gym.
Rio Olympian David Oliver Joyce made a successful professional debut, stopping his Hungarian opponent Gabor Kovacs in two rounds.
Joyce has expressed his eagerness to move quickly in the paid ranks, with the Mullingar lightweight having gained some professional-style experience in AIBA’s World Series of Boxing and APB competitions before turning over. That experience mean that the 30-year-old skipped the standard four-round distance often set for debutants, with tonight’s fight scheduled for six.
Joyce did not need anywhere near that long to ease to victory, however, as a left uppercut had Kovacs in trouble before the Mullingar man forced referee John Lowey to step in at 2mins 38secs of the round after a flurry of punches.
In the chief-support bouts, there was mixed results for Dubliners Jono Carroll and Stephen Ormond.
In a battle of previously-undefeated super-featherweight southpaws, Carroll (now 14-0) defeated Liverpool’s Johnny Quigley (14-1) on a split decision after a tough battle.
Carroll put his foe down twice in the second round but Quigley survived the round and a gritty performance saw him last the 12-round distance.
The second knockdown – from a right hook – looked to have Quigley in real trouble, but the 27-year-old showed sporadic elusiveness and heart to see out the fight, while ‘King Kong’ Carroll also picked up a cut on his left eye in the round.
Quigley boxed quite well at times but the aggressive and determined Carroll had the better of the fight, though the sting looked to have gone out of his shots late on. Two judges scored the bout 115-111 to Carroll, with one dissenting card of 113-114 in favour of Quigley.
The win sees Carroll picked up an imaginatively-named piece of tinsel - the vacant IBF East/West Europe super-featherweight title – but the undefeated 25-year-old was more satisfied to maintain his pursuit of a more legitimate prize on track.
"This is a stepping stone and I’m going to keep taking steps up the ladder until I get to a world title," said the Dunshaughlin-based Finglas native.
Later, Clondalkin lightweight Ormond (now 24-4) failed to reclaim his old WBO European lightweight belt as he came out the wrong side of a unanimous points decision to Wales’ Craig Evans (17-1-2).
The 10-round bout was an awkward and messy affair for the most part, with Evans’ consistent attempts to hold and Ormond’s crouching style leading to a clash between the orthodox and southpaw fighters.
The Dubliner hit Evans with a borderline low blow in the third, but Ormond’s trademark work-rate helped him stay in the bout before he too was guilty of grappling and spoiling at times.
The Welsh visitor, landing cleaner single shots throughout, was cut by his right eye just after the midway point and an unattractive fight saw both fighters visit the canvas after tussles in the eighth and ninth.
Ormond was legitimately put down twice in the final round, a body shot collapsing the Clondalkin man before he returned to the floor after being overwhelmed by Evans.
The Dubliner managed to see out the 10th, but Evans claimed a 97-91, 99-89, 96-93 points win, which is unfortunately likely to kill off Ormond’s fading hopes of ever challenging for a world title.
Undefeated Belfast light-welterweight Tyrone McKenna (14-0-1) recorded a keep-busy win, stopping Hungarian Ferenc Katona in four rounds, while another home fighter, cruiserweight Steven Ward replicated that result against Istvan Orsos.
Earlier, hard-hitting Belfast welterweight prospect Lewis Crocker another early stoppage, halting Bulgarian journeyman Radoslav Mitev in the second round, while Derry super-middleweight Seán McGlinchey claimed a 40-36 points victory over England’s Dan Blackwell.
