Sport

Alfredo Meli hoping to secure Sheedy Sheffield bout

Alfredo Meli (right) was last in action fighting out a draw with Conrad Cummings in Belfast in November
Alfredo Meli (right) was last in action fighting out a draw with Conrad Cummings in Belfast in November Alfredo Meli (right) was last in action fighting out a draw with Conrad Cummings in Belfast in November

UNBEATEN middleweight Alfredo Meli is on the verge of fighting an eliminator for the Commonwealth middleweight title against Yorkshire southpaw Sam Sheedy.

Meli (11-0-1) hasn’t fought since his Irish middleweight title scrap with Conrad Cummings ended in an entertaining draw in November but hopes to return to action in Sheedy’s native Sheffield on April 30.

Commonwealth Boxing Council honorary secretary Simon Block said the contest has been “mentioned but is not yet confirmed”.

If it does happen, and both camps want the fight, the winner will progress to get a shot at the title held by Tommy Langford, who beat Lewis Taylor in Liverpool earlier this month.

West Belfast fighter Meli was on the canvas in the first round against Cummings, but fought back to dominate until the second half of the fight when his opponent rallied to force a draw.

Since then Cummings has scored a win on the undercard of Frampton-Quigg but Meli has been watching on from the sidelines and says he is looking forward to getting back out against Sheedy.

“It’s on the cards for the 30th of April in Yorkshire,” he said.

“Sam Sheedy is decent – 16 fights and one loss. It would be another step up the ladder, I want to get up there and get my name more recognised.”

April 30 is a busy night for Irish fighters. While Meli fights in Yorkshire, James Tennyson and Jamie Conlan are both scheduled to appear on the undercard of Billy Joe Saunders’ WBO world middleweight title defence against Max Bursak at London’s Copper Box Arena.

Saunders vacated the Commonwealth middleweight belt after he dethroned Andy Lee in November.

“I’ve been training away and I’ve been working too,” said Meli, who works as a mechanic.

“I put my back out and I wasn’t too sure whether I did it at work or in training, it just came on me so I didn’t want to take any chances, I wanted to be fully fit.

“Hopefully the fight will come off. I’m ticking away and training away as always. This has come up and then I’ll move on from there, I can’t wait for it and I’m 100 per cent confident.”

Meli has unshakeable self-confidence and made a lot of people stand up and take notice after his performance against Cummings when he showed raw strength and accuracy and impressive durability and accuracy over 10 rounds.

“A lot of people agreed with me that I should have got the decision, but that’s the way it goes. It’s just boxing,” he said.

The only loss on Sheedy’s record came against Navid Mansouri when they fought for the English super-welterweight title in July last year. He has 16 wins on his card and out-pointed Bradley Pryce – who has tangled with Saunders, Frankie Gavin, Chris Eubank jnr – in 2014.