Cork's Cathal Crowley loses his IBU Light Heavyweight title fight to Kerry's Kevin Cronin

Cork professional boxer Cathal Crowley lost his IBU Light Heavyweight title fight by majority decision at a JB Promotions event at the National Stadium last Friday night when he fought Kerry native Kevin Cronin.

This was Crowley’s eight fight having won his last seven fights at Super Middleweight with three of them coming by way of knockout.

Cronin himself came into this fight on the back of a impressive performance against English fight Grant Dennis at the 3Arena in Dublin last month.

This was a very close fight, but Cronin finished the fight the stronger and he used all his big fight experience to land the title and give Crowley his first loss of his career.

Crowley made a good start to the fight and caught Cronin with a very good overhead right that really stunned his opponent. 

To be fair to Cronin, he kept coming forward, however, Crowley kept his punches nice and tidy to win the opening round.

Crowley did some excellent work behind his jab at the start of the second round and tested Cronin's chin with a powerful right hook. 

Cronin again kept coming forward, trying to put Crowley under pressure, but the Cork fighter kept his composure to land the cleaner shots.

The Kerry fighter was throwing the higher volume of punches in the third round and had Crowley biting down on his gum shield in the third round. The pace of the fight certainly didn’t suit the Cork fighter with Cronin winning the round.

Crowley got back to boxing behind his jab at the start of the fourth round and rocked Cronin with a big right hook to the head a minute into the round. 

However the Kerry fighter recovered to land some telling shots of his own, but Crowley landed the cleaner punches to finish the round strongly.

The fifth round was a very even affair with both fighters having success in what was a very close round.

Crowley again boxed behind his jab at the start of the sixth round and had a great success with some beautiful shots, but he had to be wary as Cronin was throwing big bombs, however, they came off Crowley’s gloves.

Both fighters had success at the start of the seventh round, but again Crowley landed the more cleaner punches. 

Crowley finished the round on the back foot as Cronin kept steaming forward, however, he never landed anything to worry Crowley.

Cronin was the more aggressive boxer in the eight round and had Crowley on the ropes early on, but the Cork fighter got back behind his jab to finish the round strong.

To give both fighters credit they showed some great stamina as they both traded punches in the ninth round. 

However, it the Cork fighter who was landing the cleaner shots in a very tight round, but Cronin was the busier fighter and nicked the round.

The final and tenth round was the very similar to the previous rounds with Cronin trying to land big shots, but Crowley kept his composure. 

But Cronin caught Crowley with a big right hook that blew the gum shield out of the Corkman’s mouth in what was again a very tight round and it helped him win the last round and get the nod from the judges and the win on the night.