FORMER Illies Golden Gloves star Tyrone McCullagh got his professional boxing career off to a winning start on Saturday night in Liverpool.
The 24-year-old featherweight from Derry (pictured above after his win) stopped his Hungarian opponent, Tamas Laska, in the second round of their contest at the Ellesmere Port Sports Village.
‘White Chocolate’ McCullagh, a noted defensive boxer in his successful amateur days with Illies, was out of the blocks like lightening and was perhaps a little over-zealous in the opening round.
Laska, now 2-3-0, was down once before McCullagh landed a ferocious left hook to the Hungarian’s body and the referee, Steve Gray, called a halt.
McCullagh is the first pro boxer to come out of Derry city since John Duddy.
He has been working under Gerry Storey jnr and snr of late.
As an amateur, McCullagh defeated James Fryers 3-1 in a low-scoring featherweight final in 2010 – it was a win that has meant he’s in the history books as Ireland’s last-ever featherweight champion.
That year, McCullagh won a bronze medal at the European Championships.
Following wins over Piotr Apostol (Moldova) and Azat Hovhannisyan (Armenia), McCullagh was beaten by Iain Weaver in the semi-finals in Moscow.
McCullagh’s frustration with the amateur game culminated in his 2014 Irish bantamweight final defeat to Irish Olympian Michael Conlon on a night when many in attendance felt McCullagh had done enough to get the decision against the Belfast man.
