Mark Chamberlain stuns Pierce O'Leary to win fight-of-the-year contender in 10th round

Mark Chamberlain upset the odds, and the local fans in Dublin, as he stopped Pierce O’Leary in the 10^th round to punctuate a breathtaking fight-of-the year-contender in Ireland.

O’Leary, 19-1 (11 KOs) and ranked highly at junior welterweight, lost his footing in the second round, over-reaching and eager to impress, when Chamberlain clouted him with a spiteful left hand. The Irishman, widely expected to win beforehand, hit the deck and dabbed at his nose, which was already bleeding profusely.

Chamberlain, who likely nabbed the first round as well, was in complete control. The underdog’s timing and ability to manage the distance was proving the difference.

Another knockdown came in the third. A left hand, again unsighted, sent O’Leary to the mat for a second time. The crowd favorite, shocked and perhaps a little embarrassed, rose quickly, his bloody and surely broken nose by now an ugly sight.

O’Leary, to his credit, rallied with abandon in the fourth. Chamberlain, for the first time, was under pressure.

The fighters, already a crafting thriller, increased the heat in the fifth round. Chamberlain, reminding observers why he was once named as Turki Alalshikh’s favorite fighter, continued to pour on the pressure. Yet O’Leary, rising in confidence, seemed to have found his range. A right hand to the head, followed by a powerful shot to the ribs, suggested the tide was turning.

O’Leary tried to gain control of ring center in the sixth but found an opponent determined to do the same. It was Chamberlain, the pre-fight underdog, who still appeared the boss. Slicker and smarter, he retained his composure and pinged his opponent when he dared to stray too close. By now, desperation reeked from O’Leary.

The drama increased in the seventh. Chamberlain, 18-1-1 (13 KOs), took an overhand left right at the end of the round before O’Leary, like a man possessed, fired a savage right into the gut of his man.

Chamberlain, surely ahead on the cards, sank to the canvas in agony. He regained his feet just in time to hear the bell.

O’Leary then seemed to take over in the eighth. The claret that spurted from his nose every time he breathed out did not seem to bother him. The canvas, however, was stained red.

Chamberlain, understandably shattered, did his best to keep his tormentor at bay in the ninth. O’Leary’s inner grit only seemed to be getting stronger and, with three rounds remaining, he looked the likelier winner.

But the beauty of boxing – the unpredictability of it, the astonishing see-saw nature of it – showed itself in the 10^th.

O’Leary swallowed a meaty left hand, Chamberlain then fired a right that landed flush before three further blows threatened to explode his opponent’s nose and robbed him of his equilibrium. The referee, rightly, rescued the home fighter to conclude a breathtaking battle.

Promoter Frank Warren, while confirming there was a rematch clause, likely said it best: “These two warriors did boxing proud tonight.”