Katie Taylor‘s farewell card is entering its final stages. With her undisputed super lightweight titles on the line, the Irish legend has decided to hang up her gloves, with the fight headlining the Matchroom card at Dublin’s Croke Park.
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While most fans and viewers eagerly anticipate the main event, the DAZN-broadcast card produced some intriguing storylines. One of those involved the preliminary bout between Ireland’s Paul Ryan and Belfast-born Paddy Gallagher. Footage of the two wrestling and tumbling in the middle of the fight generated considerable buzz on social media, with many fans commenting on the sequence.
“Boxing or WWE? 🤔,” DAZN’s official X post read, sharing the footage of that particular sequence.
As Gallagher stood in the middle of the ring, Ryan could be seen rushing towards him. But as he got closer, the visiting Englishman dipped. As a result, Ryan crashed against his left hand, and Gallagher’s head was wedged between the former’s left arm.
As Ryan dropped to the floor, the force caught Gallagher by the neck, resulting in him tumbling over the Irishman’s knees. Thankfully, nothing untoward happened as the referee called a timeout and checked whether both the fighters were fine.
Even the commentators couldn’t help but notice the striking similarity between the incident and the WWE, where professional wrestlers often tumble over each other while using choreographed movements.
Coming off a three-fight winning streak, 27-year-old Ryan is the Irish middleweight champion, while his opponent is a 25-fight veteran, almost a decade his senior. Records show that Gallagher, who has fought thrice this year, last fought seven years ago.
The clips of the sequence, meanwhile, had fans reacting, with some offering hilarious takes.
Bizarre WWE-like sequence has fans talking at Katie Taylor’s final event
“SOMEONE IN WWE NEEDS TO PATENT THIS MOVE IMMEDIATELY 😭😭. What would you call this move?” A fan teased. It will be difficult for anyone who saw the maneuver to pin it down properly. Unlike WWE, the move was random and improvised rather than anything done by design.
Still, it is not totally outlandish to think that anyone from the wrestling world, or someone who harbors wrestling dreams, might be compelled to think that such a move – to turn over your opponent in a fraction of a second – could be useful.
“The hell going on at DAZN,” wrote one user. Another added, “That’s Owen Hart sh*t right there!!!…🤣.” Though the Canadian-American wrestler is no longer around, the comparison with his style shows how recognizable his moves remain.
The scion of the famous Hart wrestling family was known for a string of moves. The most well-known include the “Sharpshooter,” the “Enzuigiri,” the “Missile Dropkick,” the “Spinning Heel Kick,” and the “Reverse Piledriver.” Of those, the one displayed by Ryan and Gallagher closely resembles the Gutwrench Suplex.
Another fan stated, “When you forget today’s boxing day at the gym and not wrestling.”
Offering a measure take, a user said, “Southpaw orthodox legs clashing leading (to) some odd sequence.” With Ryan being the southpaw and Gallagher using the orthodox stand, a close-range collision could happen. Leading with the right, a southpaw may rush onto the lead jab of an orthodox fighter hurling a straight left. But for it to turn into a WW-style tumble is something one could not have imagined.
In the end, both the fighters stuck with boxing rather than wrestling.
The fight ended as many expected, with Ryan winning on points. Hopefully, the fleeting tactic they employed in the middle of the fight does not become the norm. While both Ryan and Gallagher emerged unscathed, others who resort to such moves could dangerously end up injuring themselves.