MARCO McCullough will take on Spaniard Sergio Prado on November 20 after Jon Slowey was pulled out of their fight.
Slowey was due to take on Breen Team super-featherweight McCullough at the Waterfront Hall but the Irish News understands that a loss of focus at training led to the Glaswegian being withdrawn from the fight.
The experienced Prado has stepped in after former Carl Frampton opponent Robbie Turley turned down the opportunity appear on the bill.
Prado travels with an 11-5-1 record that includes some decent opposition most notably Kid Galahadwho he pushed all the way last year over 12 rounds for the vacant EBU (European) super bantamweight title.
The change of opponent is another unwanted distraction for McCullough but one he must be used to be now given his recent experiences and trainer Breen says his man is focussed and good to go for the ‘All on the line’ bill.
“Marc’s in great shape,” he said.
“He (Prado) has fought in class before but we’ll take it as it comes. We were sparring southpaws but Prado is an orthodox fight so we’ve changed it again.”
Meanwhile, Breen Team new boy Fergal McCrory will make his debut on the Waterfront card. Coalisland southpaw McCrory has been on the fringes of the pro game for two years but finally gets his chances to impress on the Belfast bill.
“He’s a good puncher with his left hand, he can bang,” said Breen.
“He’s a gutsy kid and he was in there sparring with Marc. His fitness wasn’t as good as Mark’s, but he gave a good account of himself.
“I’m excited by him. He comes out of work at 5pm and gets on the bus to Belfast and trains. That’s dedication – there’s very few young people would do that.”
The third fighter from Breen’s stable, Paddy Gallagher, takes on Martin Welsh on the November 20 bill. Welsh (12-5-1) lost an English super-welterweight title challenge to Brian Rose in 2011.
Matthew Wilton has been mentioned as a possible future opponent for Gallagher and he warmed up for his Waterfront fight with a routine win in the Red Cow Hotel, Dublin last Friday night.
Wilton, who plans to move down to light-welter next year, extended his unbeaten record to 13-0 with a workmanlike victory over Aleksandar Chukaleiski and said afterwards that he would happily take on city rival Tyrone McKenna who has called him out recently.
Lightweight Paul Hyland jnr (8-0) also gets the chance to impress on the November 20 bill – headlined by Conrad Cummings and Alfredo Meli - when he takes on dangerous Frenchman Virgile Degonzaga (11-10-2).
Hyland has made massive strides this year and won the International Masters and PBA international Challenge belts.
The Degonzaga fight will be his fifth of 2015 and promoter Mark Dunlop predicts that a win at the Waterfront will propel him into the top 10 in the British rankings and lead to a title shot next year.
OFF LEAD
JAMIE Conlan cruised to another emphatic stoppage win last Saturday night when he stopped Adrian Dimas Garzon in the fourth round at the National Stadium.
Static, awkward Argentinian Garzon covered up for three rounds and was outclassed by the entertaining Conlan.
He showed impressive variety in his work, boxing behind a crisp jab and peppered Garzon with bodyshots before putting him down with a chopping right hand to the temple.
The Argentinian got back up but Conlan finished him off with another flurry and referee David Irvine stepped in to call it off.
“I was in control,” said Conlan afterwards.
“It was a nice routine performance and I didn’t really get out of second gear.”
He’ll expect to move up through the gears against Paul Butler who was at ringside on Saturday night. The pair are expected to meet next year in a world title eliminator and both fighters are predicting victory for themselves.
Butler acknowledged that ‘the Mexican’ had fought well but says he won’t have enough if they meet in 2016.
“I’m an all-round better fighter,” he told BoxNation.
“Everything he does I do a little better.”
However, Conlan sees things differently.
“I just feel I have his number in every department,” he said.
“What he does, I do better. He’s fast, I’m fast. He hits hard, I hit hard. He can take a shot, I can take a shot…
“My heart is bigger than anyone elses in any division in Britain. If we fight I’ll prove it.”
Meanwhile, there was no first knockout win for Ciaran McVarnock in Dublin last Saturday night but he came mighty close.
The Belfast featherweight had journeyman Joe Beeden down twice in first round and again in fourth round but the durable pro hung on until the final bell.
Super Middleweight Jamie Cox (20-0) bt Ferenc Albert (21-8) TKO 1/10
Super Lightweight Jamie Kavanagh (20-1-1) bt Oszkar Fiko (14-13) TKO 7/8
Welterweight: Peter McDonagh (25-28-1) bt Dean Byrne (17-6-2) PTS 10/10 - vacant Irish welterweight title
Bantamweight: Jamie Conlan (15-0) bt Adrian Dimas Garzon (10-19) TKO 4/8
Cruiserweight: Ian Tims (11-3) bt Michael Sweeney (12-4-1) PTS 8/8
Lightweight: Declan Geraghty (10-1) bt Reynaldo Cajina (14-29-5) PTS 6/6
Heavyweight: Sean Turner (7-0) bt Gabor Farkas (7-38-6) TKO 1/4
Middleweight: Vijender Singh (2-0) bt Dean Gillen (2-1) TKO 1/4
Cruiserweight: David Maguire (5-0) bt Jozef Kusmirek (3-15-1) TKO 1/4 Middleweight: Ciaran Mullen (2-0) bt Christian Hoskin Gomez (1-9-1) PTS 4/4
Featherweight: Ciaran McVarnock (5-0-1) bt Joe Beeden (2-30-1) PTS 4/4
Welterweight: Isaac Macleod (5-0) bt Lubos Priehradnik (10-67-1) TKO
JAMES Tennyson and Marco McCullough are on “collision course” says Tennyson promoter Mark Dunlop.
The Belfast featherweights are both in action over the next fortnight – Tennyson in Latvia on Saturday night, McCullough at the Waterfront Hall on November 20 – and Dunlop predicts that the fighters could meet next year.
“They’re on a serious collision course,” said Dunlop.
“If James can lift the British Featherweight title and Marc can win the Commonwealth title next year a match-up between the two would fill the SSE (Odyssey) Arena out.
“I have already approached Jake McGuigan about this, however the first hurdle for Tennyson is Saturday night in Estonia.”
Tennyson and James Fryers travel east in search of wins on the EST Boxing Promotions show in Estonia. The show is headlined by Finnish heavyweight sensation Robert Helenius (21-0) who takes on Timur Musafarov (6-2) in an eight-round contest dubbed ‘Battle of the Baltic’.
The fight is expected to be a warm-up for Heleinus ahead of his European Heavyweight Title showdown against former Martin Rogan foe Erkan Teper in December.
Tennyson (22) will have his 16th professional contest and has already bagged an Irish super-featherweight title, the Celtic Featherweight title and forced his way into a British title eliminator against Aberdeen’s undefeated Darren Traynor (10-0).
The hard-hitting Kronk ABC fighter has 11 stoppage wins from his 14 victories against one loss and knows there is no room for error on Saturday night when he takes on the all-action Latvian Hitman Sergejs Logins (10-7-1) who also has 10 knockouts on his record.
Logins was recently taken out in a round by fellow Belfast featherweight Marco McCullough who is rebuilding is career after a shock KO loss to hard-hitting Hungarian journeyman Zoltan Kovacs.
Meanwhile, the impressive James Fryers (10-0), rated one of the best prospects in British and Irish boxing, holds no fear of boxing on the road.
He won’t be fazed going again to the lion’s den again in search of away win number three and another step up the ladder towards his next target - a shot at the British super-featherweight title.
Fryers takes on the heavy-handed Latvian number one Ruslans Berdimuradovs (5-4). The ‘Battle of the Baltic’ show will be broadcast live on PPV TV and the internet and is available via the following link at E9.99 (pre book) or E15 on the night: http:/live.babahh.com/boxingnight
