February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The 22-year-old from County Mayo pounded Jonathan Troncoso into submission after two heats of their four-round middleweight contest to score the only stoppage by a Garda fighter.
The NYPD won five of the nine bouts before a large crowd of corporate types in the benefit for “Tuesday’s Children,” a charity for orphans of 9/11.
Even though the hosts’ Julio Orozco walked off with the Paddy Regan “Fighter of the Night” plaque for halting Limerick man Pierce O’Sullivan in the second stanza, Coyle was a cut above the others in skill.
A veteran of more than 180 contests who faced middleweight sensation John Duddy and James Moore when they were amateurs, Coyle fought like a seasoned pro against Troncoso.
He stayed in the pocket and chopped away to the liver and head of the Bronx cop from the 46th Precinct until Troncoso raised the white flag at the end of the second stanza.
“I was just taking it easy — nice and steady,” said Coyle, a bronze medallist in the 2002 World Military Games held in Ireland. “I hit him with a few body shots and he was gone.”
He’ll be shooting for gold at the next Military Games in South Africa in July, but has his sights set on a pro career States-side.
“My aim, hopefully, is to turn pro in America,” Coyle said.
David Barrett, at 17 the youngest member of the Garda team, showed as much potential as Coyle, but was shortchanged in his welterweight contest with Lumpia Rashim.
Whether going backward or forward, the Corkman landed the better shots — straight one-twos down the pipe against Rashim’s often wild swings, and was never really pressed until the fourth and final round.
Barrett looked like an easy winner until the decision was announced in Rashim’s favor.
“I thought I was robbed,” Barrett said. “I knocked him down but didn’t get the credit. A lot of people told me when I came out of the ring that I won.”
Barrett was a alluding to a moment when Rashim went down. However, the referee ruled it a slip.
The other Barrett in the squad, Donal (no relation), dominated light heavyweight Willy Massonette over three rounds to earn a 5-0 decision.
Donal Barrett, who had his nose bloodied in the scrap, had his opponent in trouble midway through the second round when he landed a two-punch combination that froze his man, forcing referee Steve Willis to give Massonette an eight-count.
Said the 25-year-old County Mayo native: “I should have had him down in the second round. I found him awkward with his southpaw stance. I’m not used to fighting southpaws.”
Donal Barrett is now 12-2 with the Garda team since resurrecting his boxing career in 2001 after a six-year layoff.
In the three rematches on the card from the NYPD’s meeting with the Garda in Cork on St. Patrick’s Day last month, light heavyweight Brian Teahan and middleweight Ian Roche both reprised their wins over Greg Trager and Flavio Rodriguez, respectively, while Seamus O’Callaghan again lost to Freddy Ortiz.
Teahan, from Cork, produced a brilliant third-round finish to post a decision over Trager, a Bronx narcotics detective. Wexford’s Roche, who’s 21, decisioned Rodriguez, and O’Callaghan, from Donegal, came a cropper in the first round to Ortiz.
The NYPD’s other victories came through Sal Potente, a points winner over 20-year-old Wexford-born cadet Niall Kennedy, and Adam Willett, who got the nod over Cork’s Tom Murray in their heavyweight contest.
Willett, who’s 23, was facing his first Irish opponent since his TKO victory over Don O’Regan in the quarterfinals of the 2003 New York Daily News Golden Gloves light heavyweight competition, a title he went on to win.
Ger Lawlor, the coach-manager of the Garda team, said a couple of decisions could have gone their way, but still felt that it was an enjoyable show.
“A good night of exciting boxing,” his assistant Eamonn Owens echoed. “I think it was one of the better nights of boxing since I’ve been coming here.”
Lee Packtor, president and coach of the NYPD team, was pleased that his men had avenged the 7-2 defeat suffered in Cork last month, but he emphasized that it was all about the charity.
Chris Burke, founder and president of Tuesday’s Children, said the extraordinary outpouring of support for Tuesday’s Children was truly overwhelming.
Among the special guests was boxing legend Emile Griffith, who graced the benefit show the night after “Ring of Fire,” the moving documentary based on his tragic 1962 fight with Benny “Kid” Paret, premiered on the USA Cable network.