Gary Cully | |||||||||||||||
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| Born | 26 January 1996 Naas, Ireland | ||||||||||||||
| Other names | The Diva | ||||||||||||||
| Statistics | |||||||||||||||
| Weight(s) | |||||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (188 cm) | ||||||||||||||
| Stance | Southpaw | ||||||||||||||
| Boxing record [1] | |||||||||||||||
| Total fights | 19 | ||||||||||||||
| Wins | 18 | ||||||||||||||
| Wins by KO | 10 | ||||||||||||||
| Losses | 1 | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Gary Cully (born 26 January 1996) is an Irish professional boxer who has held the Irish lightweight title since 2020. As an amateur he won a gold medal at the 2013 European Youth Championships and fought at the 2014 Youth World Championships.
And then I think Rio didn’t help... and then seeing Mick [Conlan] being robbed as well... I’ve seen it in the [National] Stadium over the years, but when I saw how hard Michael trained for the Olympics, to go out and be robbed like that on the biggest stage – in front of the whole world, like – that was a big thing as well, yeah.
—Cully discussing his motivations for turning pro early [2]
Cully began boxing at the age of seven at St David's Boxing Club in Naas. [3] He won gold in the flyweight event of the 2013 European Youth Championships in Rotterdam, defeating Masud Yusifzada of Azerbaijan in the final and taking home the Best Boxer Award. [4] [5] He then represented his country at the 2014 AIBA Youth World Championships in Sofia, making his debut in the bantamweight class. [3] He lost his first match by split decision to Ukrainian Voldymyr Fedora, [6] who would eventually fall to Peter McGrail in the quarter-finals.
He was also a six-time underage Irish national champion and won the 2016 Haringey Box Cup in London, being named Best Overall Boxer in the process. [2] Cully was defeated by future pro stablemate David Oliver Joyce in the quarter-finals of the 2016 Irish Elite Championships which ended any hopes of attempting to qualify for the Rio Olympics. [7]
Having had ambitions of qualifying for the 2020 Olympics, Cully would become disillusioned with amateur boxing after rule changes and controversies such as compatriot Michael Conlan's loss to Vladimir Nikitin at Rio 2016. [2]
In the summer of 2017, Cully signed with MTK Global and turned professional, linking up with trainer Pete Taylor - father of Katie. [8] He made his debut on 16 September 2017, stopping Hungarian journeyman Gyula Tallosi inside a minute at the Devenish Complex in Belfast. [9] A busy start to his pro career saw Cully then fight twice at the SSE Arena in Belfast, scoring impressive wins over durable Englishmen Josh Thorne and Kane Baker. [10]
Following two more undercard wins in Belfast in the first half of 2018, Cully began to step up his level of opposition. First he would score a statement third-round stoppage over game Wearsider Jordan Ellison on 5 October 2018 at the Titanic Exhibition Centre before knocking out Tanzanian Mohammed Kambuluta (18–5, 7 KO) in the first round at the same venue on 7 December 2018 to improve to 7–0 as a pro. [11] [12]
The lilywhite had an uneventful 2019, only fighting twice due to a knuckle gash and missing out on a clash with French champion Renald Garrido as a result. [13] After months of looking for a challenger for the Irish lightweight title, [14] he finally won the vacant national belt on 1 February 2020 when he faced unbeaten local prospect Joe Fitzpatrick (10–0, 7 KO) at the Ulster Hall in Belfast. Cully would stop the 2014 Commonwealth Games silver medalist by first-round TKO for his first title. [13] [15]
Cully was expected to face Kieran Gething on 26 August 2020. Gething later withdrew from the bout, and was replaced by Craig Woodruff, who stepped in on 18-days notice. [16] Cully won the fight on points. [17] Six months later, on 13 March 2021, Cully faced Viktor Kotochigov for the vacant WBO European lightweight title. [18] He made quick work of the Kazakh, as he won the fight by a second-round technical knockout. [19] Cully faced Viorel Simion on 25 June 2021, in his second and final fight of the year. [20] Simion retired from the bout at the end of the third round. [21]
| 18 fights | 17 wins | 1 loss |
|---|---|---|
| By knockout | 10 | 1 |
| By decision | 7 | 0 |
| 18 | Win | 17–1 | Reece Mould | SD | 10 | 25 Nov 2023 | 3Arena, Dublin, Ireland | |
| 17 | Loss | 16–1 | José Félix Jr. | TKO | 3 (10), 2:34 | 20 May 2023 | 3Arena, Dublin, Ireland | |
| 16 | Win | 16–0 | Wilfredo Flores | TKO | 3 (10), 1:52 | 18 Feb 2023 | Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham, England | Won vacant WBA Inter-Continental lightweight title |
| 15 | Win | 15–0 | Jaouad Belmehdi | TKO | 1 (10), 0:35 | 29 Oct 2022 | Wembley Arena, London, England | |
| 14 | Win | 14–0 | Miguel Vázquez | KO | 5 (10), 0:41 | 12 Mar 2022 | Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham, England | |
| 13 | Win | 13–0 | Viorel Simion | RTD | 3 (10), 3:00 | 25 Jun 2021 | Bolton Whites Hotel, Bolton, England | |
| 12 | Win | 12–0 | Viktor Kotochigov | TKO | 2 (10), 2:57 | 13 Mar 2021 | Round 10 Boxing Club, Dubai, United Arab Emirates | Won vacant WBO European lightweight title |
| 11 | Win | 11–0 | Craig Woodruff | PTS | 8 | 26 Aug 2020 | Production Park Studios, South Kirkby, England | |
| 10 | Win | 10–0 | Joe Fitzpatrick | TKO | 1 (10), 1:38 | 1 Feb 2020 | Ulster Hall, Belfast, Northern Ireland | Won vacant Irish lightweight title |
| 9 | Win | 9–0 | Danny Mendoza | PTS | 6 | 11 Oct 2019 | Ulster Hall, Belfast, Northern Ireland | |
| 9 | Win | 8–0 | Brayan Mairena | PTS | 6 | 29 Mar 2019 | Ulster Hall, Belfast, Northern Ireland | |
| 7 | Win | 7–0 | Mohammed Kambuluta | KO | 1 (8), 0:06 | 7 Dec 2018 | Titanic Exhibition Centre, Belfast, Northern Ireland | |
| 6 | Win | 6–0 | Jordan Ellison | TKO | 3 (6), 0:57 | 5 Oct 2018 | Titanic Exhibition Centre, Belfast, Northern Ireland | |
| 5 | Win | 5–0 | Reynaldo Cajina | PTS | 4 | 30 Jun 2018 | SSE Arena, Belfast, Northern Ireland | |
| 4 | Win | 4–0 | Pal Olah | PTS | 4 | 10 Feb 2018 | Devenish Complex, Belfast, Northern Ireland | |
| 3 | Win | 3–0 | Kane Baker | PTS | 4 | 18 Nov 2017 | SSE Arena, Belfast, Northern Ireland | |
| 2 | Win | 2–0 | Josh Thorne | TKO | 3 (4), 0:30 | 21 Oct 2017 | SSE Arena, Belfast, Northern Ireland | |
| 1 | Win | 1–0 | Gyula Tallosi | TKO | 1 (4), 0:42 | 16 Sep 2017 | Devenish Complex, Belfast, Northern Ireland |
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