Eddie Hearn has suggested that Gary Cully may have to move on from the lightweight division.
The Irishman stands at 6’ 2” which is far taller than the typical fighter at 135lbs, and last night he took on Jose Felix Jr. at a catchweight of 138lbs.
Previously, Hearn has backed Cully to succeed in the division but Cully looked second best for much of the fight against Felix, all the way until he found himself stopped in the third round, with the referee arguably leaving it late to wave the fight off.
That was his first defeat after 16 fights, and Hearn told IFL that Conor McGregor questioned the matchmaking that led to the fight, but the promoter suggested that Felix is the kind of fighter that up-and-comers need to put away.
“He never recovered from the first knockdown,” Hearn said. “Got overexcited, had his chin in the air, got hit by a Mexican who can punch.
“I had a bit of a row, a friendly row, with Conor McGregor, because he said ‘why did you put him in with him?’
“You’ve got to beat kids like that. Tyrone McKenna beat him, Sandor Martin beat him. You are talking about Gary Cully being a world-class lightweight, you have to beat guys like that.
“He would have beaten him if he would have boxed smart, but it was a devastating defeat and he’s going to learn a lot from that.”
Hearn suggested that perhaps he needed to move up a division to remain energetic.
He said: “He’s going to come back from that and maybe he needs to look to move up to 140lbs as well.
“He looks so tired at that weight and that was 138lbs.”