Lamont Roach Jr. got the eighth-round technical knockout win over Feargal McCrory — though the defending WBA titleholder thought the ending might have come sooner.
There was a knockdown from a left hook in the third, two knockdowns from body shots in Round 4, and Roach buzzed McCrory in the seventh.
How tough was the 31-year-old challenger from Ireland?
“1001 out of 10,” Roach said in a post-fight interview. “He was tough. His head was big. And there was times I knew I hurt him and he didn’t fall, so I just was like alright, maybe the next one, he gonna go. All I had to do was keep chopping, man. Keep chopping, keep chopping, keep chopping. This is what we practice for. This is what we train for. I’m in 12-round shape. I might be in 15-round shape. I’m an old-school guy.”
The knockdowns came in a round when McCrory had been trying to smother Roach, and Roach sought to create breathing room to work, finding spots for an uppercut here, a hook there, punching and then moving.
Then Roach went downstairs with two body shots, then another, and McCrory hit the floor. McCrory rose at the count of eight, and Roach went straight back at him with a left to the body. McCrory went down again, shaking his head, rising and pounding his gloves.
“I didn’t think he was going to get up. Both times,” Roach said. “The first time he got up, I was like, ‘alright.’ The second time, I was like, ‘Daaaaaamn.’ Then next thing you know he just started covering his body.”
The momentum turned further a few rounds later. McCrory started the seventh taunting Roach by holding his gloves down by his side. He wouldn’t end the round with anywhere near as much bravado. Roach pummeled him with a varied attack, buzzing McCrory, who teetered and tied up.
As the eighth got under way, McCrory was less able to get inside, which meant Roach was also more able to pick McCrory off as he came forward. A counter right turned McCrory around. A left and a right to the head hurt McCrory, who was unable to tie up and prevent the onslaught to come. Roach flurried, trying to force the referee to step in, and instead McCrory’s camp alerted a ringside official, who stepped onto the canvas.
Roach said he was a little frustrated that the fight hadn’t ended sooner.
“Especially when I hit him with about 20, 30 unanswered punches and the referee didn’t stop it,” Roach said. “It is what it is. If the referee didn’t do it, I’m going to make him fall.”
McCrory suffered his first pro defeat and is now 16-1 (8 KOs). The two fighters exchanged pleasantries afterward before Roach ceded the interview floor to his fallen opponent.
“I genuinely like this guy,” Roach said. “He came to do his job. He’s a true fighter, a true competitor, a true warrior. He’s damn near tough as nails.”
Follow David Greisman on Twitter @FightingWords2. His book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
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