Lamont Roach dominates Feargal McCrory in the defense of the hometown title, the eye contact is next

Lamont Roach wanted to put on a show for the home fans in his first title defense, and he certainly did.

Roach defended his first WBA junior lightweight title on Friday in dominant fashion, stopping strong Irish contender Feargal McCrory in eight rounds at the Entertainment and Sports Arena in Washington DC The fight came to a stop at the 2:51 mark, as McCrory’s. head coach Colin Morgan threw in the towel.

“I just want to be the baddest mom in the world, man,” an emotional Roach told ProBox TV analysts after his first fight on home soil since 2017.

“I don’t even know how to explain it right now. It feels so much better, I know I have reaped all the benefits of my hard work. I’m not just talking for the sake of talking, as I’ve told you for weeks. I have been training to perform in a spectacular way for the beautiful people of my city.”

The fight was Roach’s (24-1-1, 9 Knockouts) first since winning the title in November with a split decision win over Hector Luis Garcia, while McCrory (16-1, 8 KOs) earned his first opportunity in the competition. world title.

From the start, Roach, 28, of nearby Upper Marlboro, Md., was on the edge of his opponent, throwing big punches at the tough McCrory, especially with a left hook against the southpaw from Coalisland, Northern Ireland.

Roach scored the first knockdown of the fight in the third round, putting him down with a counter check hook. Roach turned up the heat even more in the fourth round, putting McCrory down twice with body punches.

McCrory proved he didn’t make the trip to the United States capital to get paid, returning in the fifth round to body slam before punctuating the round with a right hook to the head. Roach came back strong in the sixth, going down the middle as McCrory continued to pound Roach with relentless pressure.

The inevitability began to set in midway through the seventh round when Roach opened up combinations again in the seventh round, hurting McCrory with a left hook to the body before an uppercut tied his legs again. It looked like the fight was a stop or two away but McCrory was able to get out of the round.

The grace to stop the corner finally came in the eighth round, after Roach drilled McCrory with a right hand that nearly put him down in the fourth, followed by a few more left hooks to the body that killed his fighting spirit.

Afterward, Roach told interviewer former world champion Shawn Porter that he wanted to meet other champions in the 130-pound division.

“My next goal to win is to unify, so any champion watching this, just know I’m on it,” said Roach, who is ranked no. 4 by The Ring at 130 pounds.

Lester Martinez went from top to super middleweight champion, defeating Carlos Gongora via unanimous decision in a ten-round fight. Martinez (18-0, 15 KOs) took a 99-91 decision on two cards and 100-90 on the third over Gongora, who dropped to 22-3 (17 KOs), with three losses on his streak. five times.

Martinez, 28, of Guatemala City, Guatemala used his right hand to punish the elderly Ecuadorian Olympian but was unable to take him down.

Earlier on the card, Jordan Roach, Lamont’s younger brother, earned a unanimous decision against Luis Domingo Hernandez Cambero to win his professional debut. Roach, 20, scored two knockouts in the junior bantamweight title fight, winning by scores of 40-34 on two cards and 40-35 on the third.