By Jonny Stapleton
His brother Paulie may have stole the limelight with his title winning performance last Saturday night, but super-featherweight Patrick Hyland ensured his boxing stock continued to rise by going 13-0 with a comfortable six-round points victory over the dangerous Geoffrey Munika on the Moore-Healy undercard.
The Ghanaian pugilist is renowned for his grit and bravery and the fact camp Hyland chose to take on the teak tough fighter shows not only their desire to progress the Tallaght fighter’s career but also their confidence in his ability.
“As his coach said Patrick is after beating a named fighter now. That guy has fought for several titles and he drew recently with Lee Purdy, a 7-0 light-welter prospect (a week earlier – Ed). It is a great win for Patrick to have on his CV,” manager and father Paddy Hyland told the Tallaght Voice in the dressing room after the show.
There were initial concerns over Munika’s weight, the Hyland camp reckoned he may have had up to a half a stone weight advantage come fight time, but their early fears would have been eased as the man who knocked out Irish boxing legend Paul Griffin got to work.
Boxing in a similar style to his brother Paulie, Patrick began notching up the rounds with ease. Patrick, however, is a little more direct and landed some big shots on his 16-10-1 opponent, but Munika lived up to his tough billing and batted to the death despite being cut early on.
