Collazo to Hatton: ‘Make Good on Re-Match Promise’
Collazo Says He’ll Make Good on His Promise to Fight Hatton in England

BROOKLYN, N.Y. May 15th 2006—Luis Collazo, who lost his World Boxing Association welterweight title by a razor-thin decision against England’s Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton on Saturday in Boston, has asked Hatton to make good on his post-fight promise to grant him a re-match.

“Ricky and Team Hatton were great sportsmen before and after our fight on Saturday,” Collazo said from his home in Brooklyn, N.Y. today. “I take Ricky as man of his word. He said I gave him his toughest fight ever. He admitted that I hurt him on several occasions. He said he knew the fight was close. He also said he would give me a re-match. Now he needs to make good on that promise.

“In the spirit of good sportsmanship, I think it would be only right for our second fight to take place on his home turf in Manchester. I would be honored to accept his invitation for an immediate re-match in England.”

The sportsmanship between England and America was not limited to the ring combatants at the TD Banknorth Garden. Many of the visiting British journalists polled after the disputed decision honestly admitted they believed the American, Collazo, had defeated their countryman.

While the polling among all journalists showed mixed results, it was clear that more than half had Collazo winning the fight. Two highly respected American journalists scored Collazo the winner by a four-point margin of 116-112. Of those who had Hatton as the winner, few, if any, had him winning by more than a single point.

Only one of the four officials assigned to work the fight by the Massachusetts Boxing Commission had significant world championship experience.

Byron Ogelsby, Collazo’s assistant trainer, may have summed it up best with his comments at the post-fight press conference.

“Ricky Hatton was exposed tonight,” Ogelsby said. “Until he redeems himself in a re-match with Luis Collazo, he has no business talking about fights with Floyd Mayweather Jr. or any of the others (welterweight elites).”

S:Don King Promotions

Roscommon, New York sides named
Friday, May 12
John Maughan has named his first championship side as Roscommon boss ahead of their Bank of Ireland Connacht SFC against New York this weekend.
The Rossies have included four championship debutants in a team in which the likes of David Casey, Seamie O'Neill and Stephen Lohan will be relied upon for experience.
Richard Dooner at left wing back, Sean Fahy at 15, Enda Kenny at left corner forward and Stuart Daly at right wing back are the newcomers.
ROSCOMMON - D Lennon; P O'Connor, D Casey, S McDermott; S Daly, J Nolan, R Dooner; S O'Neill, B Mullin; S Lohan, G Heneghan, M Finneran; E Kenny, G Lohan, S Fahy.
New York have also named their side for the Connacht championship clash at the Gaelic Grounds in New York on Sunday.
Roscommon make the long journey stateside as red hot favourites, but manager John Maughan will not be taking the exiles for granted and knows they will provide a stern test.
NEW YORK - C Greene; N Corbett, J Mitchell, D Rooney; C McKeever, A Rooney, P Murphy; K O’Connor, G Dowd; A McCarron, S Munnelly, D Dorgan; M Dobbin, R Moran, V Gavin.

James Clancy fighting in Boston Garden
Saturday night against Tyrone Smith
BOSTON (May 11, 2006) - Unbeaten Irish heavyweight James Clancy (7-0, 1 KO)
takes on Boston police officer Tyrone Smith (5-1-1, 2 KOs), former New
England Golden Golves champion, on Saturday night's Ricky Hatton-Luis
Collazo undercard at the TD Bank North Garden (aka Boston Garden).
Clancy, now living in the Boston suburb of Waltham, is from Clare, Ireland.
He has followed the path other successful Irish boxers such as Barry
McGuigan, Steve Collins, Wayne McCullough and more recently Kevin McBride
and John Duddy have traveled from the Emerald Isle to the United States.
"An Irish fighter in the states, especially in Boston or New York City, is
worth his weight in gold. I believe that there is more respect for Irish
boxers here than back in Ireland or England. It's a privilege for me to be
fighting on the Hatton-Collazo card in the Boston Garden, which is much like
Madison Square Garden. This is going to be great for me and everybody else
on the card.
"I've been working on my power because I want to become more of a
boxer-puncher. I'm going to be aggressive Saturday night and really work the
body. I want to keep fighting, build my record up, and see what course it
takes. When I go home to Ireland I'll be well known."
Clancy's supporters will be out in force having purchased nearly $20,000 in
tickets. They'll be waving Irish flags, singing the traditional "soccer"
chant, and wearing plenty of green.
Boxing was part of growing up back in Clare for James and his younger
brother, Mark, who is an undefeated cruiserweight (4-0-1) as a professional.
James developed into a five-time Irish national champion, highlighted by his
All-Irish Senior honor in 1995. As an amateur Clancy defeated present Irish
heavyweight champion and his close friend, Kevin McBride, who was the
youngest Irish Olympic boxer ever and last year retired Mike Tyson.
Clancy's shot at the 1996 Olympics failed when he was injured against the
English champion in a qualifying match. James was sidelined for eight
months, continued his amateur career for a while, and then got out of the
sport. In 2001, he decided on a a change of scenary, moving to Boston and
using the civil engineering degree that he had earned from RTC in Cork to
become a fulltime construction worker.
"I hadn't fought for two years until Kevin (McBride) asked me to go down to
Petronelli's Gym (in Brockton)," James explained. "I did a little sparring,
one thing led to another, and instead of returning to fight as an amateur, I
decided to turn pro."
Clancy, who lost a 3-2 decision to Calvin Brock as an amateur, made his pro
debut March 17 2003, stopping Dan Veskovic in the second round of their
fight at The Roxy in Boston. He continues to spar with the "Clones
Colossus," McBride, as well as other New England fighters such as 2004 U.S.
Olympian Jason "Big Six" Estrada and USNABC cruiserweight champion Matt "Too
Smooth" Godfrey.
James, 33, works out of the South Boston Gym and is trained by Jimmy
Gifford.
McBride said he'd abdicate his Irish heavyweight title to give Clancy an
opportunity to fight for it against Colin Kenna. First, though, James has to
get past a tough cop named Smith, fighting on the biggest stage of his
career.
Source-JC-PR

Boston Gaa, May 7th 2006,

Galway hurling club are back in action after failing to field a team in 05. Off to a flying start from the first whistle, Wexford showed a little more organized play, Galway made some inroads but this was not to be their day eventfully falling to Wexford 1-7 to 0-6 .

All Tones!

Christopher’s were clearly out matched by the Tones from the start.

Despite a barrage of scores in over the head of the Christopher’s keeper, the team fought on motivated maybe by a great effort from the young Kenneally brothers.

Wolf Tones 1-9 Christophers 0-2

Big, Bad, and organized

As if it were July and under pressure in the Championship, Armagh Notre Dame under their new manager Connor McKeever ran onto the field all business. Although Columbkilles were never going to be a factor against the Northern crew, Armagh never let up. At times Armagh passed on easy points taking some tries on goal, but Murphy in goal for the Kills made a few massive saves to spoil their effort.

Armagh 1-11 Columbkilles 0-2

Connemara Gael also took care of

Mayo earlier in the day with a score of

Gaels 1-9 May0 0-1