Sport

Sean McComb bound for Boston after win over Petar Alexandrov

Sean McComb out-pointed Petar Aleksandrov last Friday night and will now box in Boston, USA on October 20. Picture Mark Marlow
Sean McComb out-pointed Petar Aleksandrov last Friday night and will now box in Boston, USA on October 20. Picture Mark Marlow Sean McComb out-pointed Petar Aleksandrov last Friday night and will now box in Boston, USA on October 20. Picture Mark Marlow

SEAN McComb is now bound for Boston after he cruised to 3-0 in his professional career with a points win over Petar Alexandrov at the Titanic Exhibition Centre last Friday night.

Light-welterweight McComb, now based in Glasgow at Danny Vaughan’s MTK gym these days, has wasted no time since making his debut on August 30 on the undercard of Carl Frampton’s Windsor Park win over Luke Jackson.

Next up he opens the show at the TD Garden in Boston on October 20 on a bill that includes Belfast’s James Tennyson versus Tevin Farmer for the IBF super-featherweight title, Katie Taylor versus the experienced Cindy Serrano (27-5-3) for the IBF and WBA Female Lightweight titles.

Billy Joe Saunders, whose WBO middleweight title defence against Demetrius Andrade looks set to go ahead despite his positive test for a banned amphetamine, remains the headline act.

“It’s a massive opportunity,” said McComb.

“Boston has a big Irish community, there’s a big Irish following over there and you have James Tennyson and Katie Taylor both fighting for world titles.

“Billy Joe Saunders is there as well, so there are three world title fights on the night and to be on that bill in front of a massive Irish fanbase is a brilliant opportunity for me to go out and showcase my skills. I’m hoping to put on a decent show; go over and do what I’m good at.

“I’ll do the simple things right because that will make the difference. I’ll soak it all up because this experience is going to be a massive part of my career and I have to take everything in because it’s going to catapult me in the future.”

Given the way his career has taken off, you might think 26-year-old McComb might regret not turning pro earlier. But the former Holy Trinity ABC star, who represented Northern Ireland in this year’s Commonwealth Games, wouldn’t change a thing.

“I’m happy with what I’ve done,” he said.

“I’ve done everything bar the Olympics and I was very unfortunate there because I was caught in between two weights for the Olympics in 2016 and it sort of messed me up.

“I don’t care that I stayed an extra two years because I learned a lot over those two years. I actually moved up from 60kg to 64kg and I was able to mix it with the best in the world and progress as a fighter. I believe I progressed massively and those two years were the biggest years of my career.

“I just blossomed into an all-round fighter. Looking back I don’t regret it, I’m happy I stayed because I don’t think I would have progressed by beating up journeymen the way I did by fighting top, elite amateur fighters over the last two years.”

From his early days as an amateur, McComb wanted to make boxing his living. The passion he has for the sport is obvious and he is constantly working on his game with coach Vaughan and his team. “I have dedicated an awful lot of my life to boxing,” he explains.

“I just thought to myself: ‘I never want to work’, I enjoy boxing and I was decent at it and I just decided to stick at it and see where it took me.

“I never wanted to work, that was my motto in life, I didn’t want to go and work for someone else to make them money. From a young age I decided to focus on boxing because I was decent at it and try and get as far as I could with it.

“I won an elite title in 2013 and I got a contract with the Irish team so I was on funding and I never looked back. Away from boxing when I get an opportunity for some down time I’ll take it fully because rest is just as important as training sometimes – we can all over-train and we can all be gym rats.

“I’m not a gym rat. I’m not in the gym unless I have to be, simple as that. I’m a naturally fit, athletic person and I believe that down time is very good for you. You don’t need to be in the gym 24-7.”

When he’s not in the gym he spends his time with fellow Belfast fighters, and former Ireland team-mates, Tyrone McKenna and Paddy Barnes. McComb describes the current set up as a mini high performance unit.

“I have brilliant memories from my amateur days and of course I miss it,” he said.

“But from turning pro I’m back with Paddy Barnes and Tyrone McKenna who I spent a lot of time with in the Irish teams. It’s almost the same, it’s like a high performance unit in itself because we’re all staying in Glasgow and we’re all around each other.

“We can still have a bit of downtime after the gym, we can go to the cinema, we can go out for food and still behave like we did on the Irish team – have a bit of craic because that’s all part of it as well, you have to enjoy it, there’s no point in being miserable about it.

“I come home every second weekend so the weekend’s I’m there we’ll go to a Celtic game if they’re at home and stuff like that. It kills a bit of time and gets us out of the house.”

CARL Frampton stablemate Rocky Fielding faces the biggest fight of his life after signing to defend his WBA super middleweight title against Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez.

Twenty-eight-year-old Mexican Canelo is one of the most feared fighters on the planet and recently emerged victorious from a rematch with Gennady Golovkin.

He and Fielding will face off in New York at Madison Square Garden on December 15.

Canelo has a 53-fight record, losing just once, on decision to Floyd Mayweather Jr in 2013. Fielding joins a long line of British opponents, with Liam Smith (2016), Amir Khan (2016), Ryan Rhodes (2011) and Matthew Hatton (2011) all beaten.

Fielding has lost just once in a 28-fight career, though he has boxed more domestically, before winning his world strap against Tyron Zeuge in July.

DOUBLE Olympic champion Nicola Adams secured a unanimous points decision win against Mexican Isabel Millan in their interim WBO flyweight title bout in Leicester on Saturday night.

In just her fifth professional fight, the 35-year-old got the better of former world title challenger Millan over the course of the 10 rounds and was the winner on all three judges' scorecards.

The Leeds fighter will now be targeting a first full world title shot as a professional.

Adams started strongly, with her speed causing her opponent problems in the early rounds.

And she saved the best until last, producing a late flurry of punches in the 10th round before her victory was announced.