Seanie Monaghan capped a memorable St. Patrick’s Day for his traveling Long Beach fans with an impressive six-round unanimous points nod over Eric Watkins on the Macklin-Martinez undercard at Madison Square Garden.
The light heavyweight weathered an early charge by Watkins to remain undefeated [13-0, 8 KOs].
There were also victories by Dublin heavyweight Thomas Hardwick, who decked TJ Gibson twice en route to an undisputed four-round points win and middleweight Kevin Rooney, Jr., a first round KO winner over Anthony Shuff. Jersey light welterweight Danny McDermott, meanwhile, dropped a six-round majority decision to Carl McNickles despite flooring the Chicagoan once.
SEANIE SHOW
An impressive 6-1 [3 KOs] going into the match, Watkins jumped on Monaghan at the bell. The fan favorite, however, responded like a seasoned pro in only his 13th fight and weathered the pressure.
Monaghan then took over with counter hooks to the head and body that eventually wore down Watkins. By the third round, the contest was akin to a one-sided sparring session with Monaghan doing the hitting and the erstwhile West Virginia cruiserweight catching some hard shots.
Watkins was the worse for wear after six rounds, although, surprisingly, two of the three judges had him winning the final stanza. The final scoring was 60-54, 59-55 [twice] for the son of County Meath immigrants.
“The guy was tough,” said Monaghan. “I’m surprised he didn’t go down and that the referee didn’t stop it.”
“The best he’s ever looked,” manager P.J. Kavanagh lauded his charge. “He did everything right and definitely would have stopped him if it was an eight-rounder.”
SUPER KEV
Kevin Rooney, publicist for promoters DiBella Entertainment, took what amounted to less than a couple of minutes off the job to face and knockout out one Anthony Shuff. A quick shower later, he was back on duty in tie and jack, and jokingly calling it his “reverse Superman” move.
Rooney, of County Clare heritage, did the damage with a double right hand that froze Shuff. It forced referee Harvey Dock to halt the scheduled four-rounder a minute and 27 seconds into the bout.
“I felt strong,” said Rooney.
EASY WORK
So did Thomas Hardwick, whose hard work with trainer Matt Sykes paid off against Bahamian-born heavyweight TJ Gibson.
Coming off a KO victory over a previously opponent, Gibson [now 1-2] was expected to test Hardwick. He ended up twice on the canvas instead before succumbing on points to the Dubliner.
Hardwick countered Gibson’s overhand right with a left for the first knockdown in the opening round, and dropped him again with a one-two in the third.
“We worked on that. We knew he’d be coming in with an overhand right,” said Hardwick [5-0, KOs]. “He was a good fight, a good learning curve.”
HARD LUCK
Danny McDermott also had his man, Carl McNickles on the deck in the second heat but it wasn’t enough as the Chicago light welterweight got the nod 57-55 [twice] and 56-56 in their bruising six-rounder.
“Little Mac” dropped to 9-4-2 [4 KOs] while McNickles upped his ledger to 8-3 [6 KOs].
