By Alexey Sukachev
At the University Arena in Limerick, Ireland - Less than twelve months ago, Willie Casey (11-0, 7 KOs), 28, was virtually unknown and totally inexperienced. A year removed from that point Willie Casey is a new European super bantamweight champion, a Prizefighter winner, and has a bright future is ahead of him. The stocky local brawler completely overwhelmed fellow Dubliner Paul Hyland (18-2, 5 KOs) and stopped him with 51 seconds remaining in the fourth round.
Casey wasn't exceptionally good in the first, as Hyland, 25, was a bit more aggressive while Willie chose to fight in spurts. He became considerably more resolute and busier in the second and started to break the other Irish pugilist with sharp and crisp combinations with an accent on his right hook. Hyland was wobbling under fire but bravely fought back despite hostile circumstances. Casey's domination got bigger in the third as was his punch output and target precision. In the fourth, he went right after Hyland, pounded him mercilessly and finally scored the stoppage win even despite his opponent has never been officially down.
Casey acquired the European super bantamweight title, which has been vacated by Spaniard Kiko Martinez. After the fight, both Casey and Martinez met each other in the ring and verbally agreed to settle all discrepancies between two of them in a future fight.
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Cuban light heavyweight banger Luis Garcia (11-0, 9 KOs) is officially in. It took the entertaining aggressor less than two rounds to completely destroy heralded former super middleweight king Byron Mitchell (28-7-1, 21 KOs) in brutal fashion. Garcia went right at (and then through) Mitchell immediately after the starting bell. The American's legs were soon gone with the wind of Cuban's punches but he fought (or, it's better to say, clinched) hard to survive till the second round. However, the Caribbean whirlwind continued, and soon Mitchell ate several more punches which had his left eye badly cut.
Referee Mickey Vann halted the time and called for a ringside physician. Meanwhile, Mitchell indicated he was in no condition to continue, and Vann stopped the contest thereafter. Time announced was 0:51 of the second. Another huge win for the hard-hitting Cuban.