Patrick Hyland defeats Emmanuel Lucero in Atlantic City

Featherweight Patrick Hyland (25-0) got off to a winning start

Featherweight Patrick Hyland (25-0) got off to a winning start with new promoter Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi when he defeated Emmanuel Lucero (26-9-1) by unanimous decision at the Resorts Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City last Saturday night.

The drama began before the fight when the diminutive Lucero bounded into the ring looking like a WWE fighter with a green and red facemask.  Not to be outdone, Hyland rocked into the hall led by Snooki to ACDC’s “Thunderstruck.”

Hyland, who was last in action in August in Ireland, out-boxed Lucero easily in the early rounds as the Mexican repeatedly came in with his head low trying to throw overhand bombs at the Dubliner.  However, Hyland was ready to the task and kept him at bay with solid combinations and good movement.

In the third round Hyland stumbled the sturdy Mexican with a body-head combination as the two began to trade leather more frequently.

In the fourth, the boxing subsided temporarily as the two started to brawl. Hyland enjoyed the better of the exchanges and was tagging the Mexican for the first two minutes of the round, but Lucero came back strong in the final minute and caught Hyland with some hard shots that the Shamrock Rovers fan absorbed well.

In the fifth, there was a slight lull as tactics resurfaced, and Hyland began to pick his shots and resist the temptation to get sucked into another war. 

That theme continued for the rest of the fight, with the Dubliner using his boxing skills to negate the head-first attacks of his opponent, catching him with a few well-timed uppercuts.

At the end of the fight, all three judges scored the fight for Hyland, 77-75, 78-74 and 79-73.

“I slugged with him for four rounds.  I was happy with the performance,” Hyland told the Voice after the fight at ringside.

“He had more wins that I had fights, so I knew it was going to be a good fight.  He has a good knockout ratio, but he didn’t hit that hard,” he said, adding that it was of great benefit to get rid of his ring rust by going eight hard rounds with a seasoned fighter.

“I took everything that he landed on me.  I got into a bit of a brawl in the middle. The boxing went out the window and I started to bang, but the fans loved it.”

Hyland does not plan to take too long off and plans to be back in action again in late March/April.  The 28-year-old hopes he can get a crack at a world title in 2012.

Trainer Tracy Patterson saw good and bad things from his fighter’s performance. 
“I’d give him a B-plus. There were different times when he could have punched a bit more on the inside, worked a bit more on the angles,” he said.

However, there was plenty for the former two-time world champion to feel encouraged about.

“His (Patrick’s) conditioning was great.  There were times when he fought well on the inside. He threw a nice straight right hand down the pipe and a nice upper cut coming inside,” said Patterson, adding that Lucero was the type of guy that “you have to fight to move up to the next level.”

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Nster.com