Blanchardstown's Darragh Foley [11(8KOs)-2] produced a thunderous knockout in inauspicious circumstances to retain his WBA Oceania title in Sydney this morning.
The 28-year-old light-welterweight, naturally a southpaw, was in a real battle with Sonny Katiandagho of the Philippines when he suffered horrendous swelling on the left-hand side of his face. So debilitating was the damage, Foley was forced to switch to an orthodox stance in order to see his opponent.
By round six, 'The Pinoy Hearns' Katiandagho had gained the ascendancy with a more cautious Foley struggling to find his range and rhythm from his more atypical stance. The Aussie commentators still had Foley up, but frequently alluded to the fact that the scrap was slipping away from the Irish import.
'Super' Darragh, however, had other ideas, and landed two big right hands over the top before almost blowing his South East Asian opponent out of the ring with a thunderous right hand, ended the contest with one spectacular punch, much to the excitement of the Aussie comms.
Darragh Foley KO Sonny Katiandagho
[via Aus-Boxing.com]
Foley was ranked no.15 by the WBA prior to the bout, but might well climb their rankings with such a statement victory.
Back in 2014, the Dubliner became Western Australian champion in just his third pro fight, just a year after moving down under from Blanchardstown.
You can watch his full fight back from the 37-minute mark here, via Aus-Boxing.com.
