The Kingdom Warrior was left heartbroken by the split-decision, which was met by boos by the crowd at the 3-Arena
The Milltown man was adjudged to have won the fight 77-75 by one of the judges, but the other two plumped for the home-town hero 78-76 and 78-75 to allow the Tokyo Olympian retain his 100% record as a professional.
Even in defeat the Kingdom Warrior’s performance will see his stock rise considerably, having gone into the fight as a firm underdog, impressing with an all-action display that many observers felt was superior to what Brennan brought to the table.
The judges’ decision was met with boos from a large portion of the attendance at the Point Depot, with Cronin’s performance winning admirers, including from the commentators on UFC Fight Pass, who’d felt the Kerry man had done enough to win.
Cronin started the fight a little slowly, Brennan with some good early hits, which left the Kingdom Warrior with a bloodied nose. From the second round on, however, the Milltown man grew in stature.
He was the more aggressive, assertive fighter taking the fight to his Dublin opponent, dictating the terms of the engagement, and visibly rocking Brennan back on his heels at times.
Flashing a winning smile throughout the second and third rounds, Cronin looked to have assumed control over the contest. Come the midway point in the bout Cronin had out-punched his rival 79 to 56.
Brennan, to his credit, managed to get back on a more even keel in the next rounds, with his jab proving a very effective weapon against the bigger hits of Cronin as the punch ratio tightened up.
In the penultimate and seventh round Cronin looked to be back on top and he carried that into the final round, again looking to be the more front-foot boxer, getting in some good hits.
Brennan did finish the round really well, however, with a couple of late powerful upper-cuts that caught Cronin on the kisser. Could those two hits have made all the difference in the judges scoring? Who’s to say.
The punch statistics come the end of the fight showed Cronin had out-hit his rival 163 to 137, albeit that Brennan had 91 head shots (those jabs we referenced) to Cronin’s 68, while Cronin had 95 body shots to Brennan’s 46.
While obviously a heartbreaking evening for the Tralee-based firefighter, one very much got the impression that even in defeat Cronin did his reputation and career no harm whatsoever in Dublin’s docklands.
The talk of a rematch has already started.
