Belfast boxer Tyrone ​McKenna: 'I have a chin of granite but a glass body'

The fight was billed as a war - and it certainly lived to the hype with both boxers standing in the middle of the ring trading punches.

McKenna had been put on the canvas in the fourth round with a body shot but he recovered and finished the round strongly.

However, it was another devasting body blow 45 seconds into the fifth round that finished the fight as McKenna failed to beat the referee’s count.

“I jumped the gun last time and retired a bit early, I’ll settle after this one and see what the options are,” said McKenna.

The Belfast fighter’s gameplan was working perfectly and he had inflicted a lot of damage to the Frenchman’s face to the extent that Mimoune’s left eye had completely closed.

“I think he knew he didn’t have much rounds left with that eye and if it had of been referred to the doctor it probably would have been stopped and he just put his foot on the gas a bit,” said McKenna. “He knew he was hurting me to the body in most rounds, every time he hit me to the body he was stepping up because he knew he was hurting me, so he just kept working the body.

“Eventually I just hit the ground and couldn’t breathe, even if I wanted to I couldn’t have got up.”

McKenna joked: “I have a chin of granite but a glass body.”

The Mighty Celt was leading on the scorecards before the knockout.

“I don’t think he was expecting the way I was going to box, I was fighting off the back foot and making things awkward, keep it on the jab and when he stepped in, hit him with the left hands and that is what I was doing and it was working brilliant.”

“I think I was cruising it until he started opening up to the body a bit more and when he knew he was hurting me and getting reactions to the body he knew just to target that.

“He knew that was where he was getting his success, he knew he couldn’t hit me to the head because he was not a big puncher, I could have took his power all day long.

“My body has always been bad, I have been blessed with one of the best chins in the game but have also been punished with one of the worst bodies in the game.

“I always get hurt in sparring with body shots, I always knew I had a weak body and you’ve seen it over the years, I never get dropped with head shots it is always body shots and he capitalised on it.

“It was a good fight while it lasted and I gave the crowd a good night’s money’s worth as I always do, I loved the fight while it was going on it was brilliant.

"I wish I could have continued after that body shot but there is just nothing you can do when you are hurt like that, you are paralysed more or less and no matter how much the crowd roared I couldn’t get up.”

And Caoimhin Agarko wants a shot at the European title after extending his unbeaten record to 15-0 with a points victory of Iranian Bahadur Karami at the SSE Arena on Saturday night.

It was the Belfast boxer’s first fight in nine months and he admitted he felt a bit of ring rust and got the difficult fight he was anticipating after a late change of opponent.

“It was exactly what I was expecting from him from watching him in the two days that I had to prepare from him, he was a last-minute opponent which I was told about on Thursday morning,” said Agarko. “He is a super middle/light heavyweight and I’m a super welterweight, I was told the fight was being made at seven pound heavier that I was scheduled to fight and then he came in three pound over that.”

“So he was six pound heavier than me at the weigh-in, I expected him to push me and I expected him to be physically strong.

“It was a good eight rounds and it was good to be back out there...it was the first time in nine months since the Troy (Williamson) win a bit rusty but a win is a win.

“Troy was my career-best win, but I needed to push on from that but, unfortunately, this year I have been inactive and that showed with a bit of ring rust.

“There was a bit of ring rust with a lot of mental issues going on this week and last week, so it was good to go out and get a win against somebody two to three weights above me.

“I’ll be speaking to my manager, I want a date to fight again...I just need to be kept active and, hopefully, have one more fight before the end of the year and then push on for big titles in 2025.”

Agarko feels a title shot is overdue.

“European level, I’m ranked No9 with the WBA and raked No7 with the EBU, so I want a European title and I have called for the European title,” he said. “I want to be in a position to fight for the European title I know you can’t skip levels in boxing, I want to push on to world level.”

Belfast welterweight Owen O’Neill was stopped against Dublin’s Dylan Moran after just 19 seconds of the first round as the referee deemed, he was in no position to defend himself.

Fearghus Quinn suffered a second-round defeat against Scotland’s Aston Brown.