Dublin - Reece Mould and Gary Cully met in a well matched clash of styles at lightweight.
Cully was stopped badly in three rounds by Jose Felix in May and decided to jump straight back in with another heavy handed fighter whilst English champion, Mould, was desperate for a win to move him into major title contention.
The 6ft 2in tall Cully kept his lead hand moving constantly. If he wasn’t jabbing with it, he was feinting and it kept the shorter Mould constantly guessing and wary of stepping in and closing the distance. Cully kept it safe apart from one sharp looking combination. Mould tried to use feints of his own but although the Doncaster fighter did land with a solid looking left hook, he fell short with most of his attacks.
Having had a round to align his sights, Mould began to work the body to better effect in the second, timing his shots better when Cully did attack. Cully kept probing with his lead right hand but there was little weight behind it and Mould appeared more confident in launching attacks. He came right over the top of a pawing jab with a right hand that shook Cully and had him holding on.
Maybe fearful of taking another solid right hand, Cully kept his dangerous left hand glued to his chin and Mould capitalized, picking away, moving around the target and looking to land heavy shots when Cully gave him openings.
Cully began to find his feet in the fourth. The left hand began to come out more regularly and he held his feet a couple of times, letting combinations go to head and body. Mould was untroubled by anything that landed and still managed to bull forward and land solid shots to head and body himself but he suddenly had more to think about.
Cully almost had his newly found confidence knocked out of him in the fifth. They traded left hooks, Mould got the better of it and he followed up with a right hand. Cully took the shots better this time and the fight developed a real feel of tension, as if one mistake by either fighter could prove fatal.
The effort and concentration of constantly moving forward with head movement began to tell on Mould in the sixth. Whether he sensed this or whether he just began to feel more confidence in his own chin and fitness, Cully visibly loosened up and had more rhythm to his work. The shots began to flow nicely and he was able to dictate the range of the fight.
Mould put in a concerted effort in the seventh. Realizing he need to turn the tide, he upped the tempo and forced himself inside Cully’s long reach. Once there he worked away at the body and made Cully work at a high pace. The effort didn’t produce the returns he would have liked. Cully had his legs back underneath him and boxed nicely through the eighth. He absorbed a big right hook well, and the snap seemed to have just left Mould’s work.
Once again, Mould bounced off his stool with renewed effort. There was one particularly eye catching short right hand but again Cully absorbed it. The Irishman seemed intent on boxing his way to the final bell now and the two fought their way to the final bell, Cully moving and keeping Mould at range and the Yorkshireman desperately trying to get close and work inside. Mould kept pushing to the end and landed a nice right as the final bell sounded.
It was a good, entertaining fight and an intriguing clash of styles.
After ten rounds, it seemed to be a case of which style you preferred. Did you like Cully’s boxing or Mould’s pressure? The judges were split. Pawel Kardyni had it 97-93 for Mould but Paul McCullagh scored it 97-93 for Cully and Jan Christensen had it 96-93 for the Irishman.
With the split decision victory, Cully wins a WBA belt and gets his career back on track.
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