Riding a wave of thunderous applause at Saturday night’s Daniel Durham Memorial Boxing Tournament, hometown hero Paul Hickman powered his way to his first professional win.
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“Thank you to the crowd, it was your cheers that brought me home,” Hickman said after his four round, unanimous decision win over Abbas Makki from Newcastle.
Fans crammed the Gunnedah Town Hall to watch a dozen amateur fights and three professional bouts held in memory of local fighter Dan who last year took his own life.
“He’ll be with us for the rest of our lives,” Hickman said, who was wearing Dan’s shorts in tribute.
“Let’s remember Daniel for the guy he was.
“I can only hope I’ve done him proud with the fight I’ve just had.”
He thanked his trainers, support staff and Dan’s mum Vicki for helping pull the show together.
The win was just Hickman’s second professional fight and his first since September 2012 when he lost to Casey Gilmour, coincidentally at the same venue.
“This feeling right here, you can’t explain it,” he told the crowd.
“So thanks very much Gunnedah, this reception has made it all worth it.”
In the night’s main event, Gold Coast fighter Corey McConnell knocked down Thai contender Mongkolchai Lookmuangkanch in the first of a scheduled 12-round contest to win the vacant Pan Asian Boxing Association (PABA) super featherweight title.
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McConnell, who won the WBC International super featherweight in Narrabri in late 2014, on Saturday peppered his foreign opponent with a barrage of body blows.
One punch knocked Mong to his haunches and he was unable to continue.
While still in the ring, he was also seen to be physically ill immediately after the bout.
