CAOMHIN Hynes was out for lunch with team-mate Bradley Skeete (the British and Commonwealth welterweight champion) yesterday when he took a call from The Irish News to discuss his second professional outing this weekend.
The former Holy Trinity ABC star is now based in Bromley, London and he is among a clutch of up-and-coming youngsters included on Saturday night’s bill at Brentwood Leisure Centre.
Even as an amateur, middleweight Hynes was tipped as a man to watch when he turned pro and he is making steady progress where he is trained by Alan Smith and Eddie Lam at the iBox Gym.
“Training camp went well, I had a good debut and I’m looking forward to Saturday,” he said.
“I’m in good shape and I’m looking forward to bettering my debut.
“I’ve been working on slowing the pace down a bit and sitting down on my punches more, it’s just adjusting small things from the amateurs to the pros. I had that kind of pro style anyway but there are certain moves in the pros that are different.
“When I first came over here my pace was always a lot higher than the other pros but when you’re doing six-eight rounds sparring you can tell the difference because an amateur will start to slow down. I’ve had to slow the pace down for a couple of rounds instead of starting very fast.”
Born in Croydon, Hynes was brought up just across the road from the Holy Trinity Gym in Turf Lodge where he and his younger brother Eoin learned their trade. Strong and durable, he is a talented box-fighter who is committed to improving day by day as he builds towards his childhood dream of becoming a world champion.
“It’s been good,” he says
“I’m learning every day and I’m around good people.
“I have a good coach and great team-mates like Bradley Skeete and Johnny Garton (British welterweight champion) so I’m settling in well. It’s hard being away from home but they’re the sacrifices you have to make.
“By the end of next year I want to be 8 or 9-0 and going into 2020 looking to fight for a title.
“I don’t want to be pushed too fast, I want to take my time, I only turned 22 two weeks ago so I have time on my side.
“I just want to learn and progress and as long as I’m performing well against every opponent I’ll be happy with that. There are a lot of fighters out there who are 7-0 or 8-0 saying: ‘I want titles…’ I don’t think like that, I want to focus on my performances and make sure I’m performing well and learning.
“If the titles come they’ll come. I’ll know when it’s time to step up, my coaches rate me highly because I was a good amateur so I have the potential to be a very good fighters, it’s just about the right timing, learning and settling into the pros, getting good experienced fighters in tough fights and seeing how I progress.
“I know when I’m ready to step up and, no doubt, when I am ready I’ll take that opportunity.”
Between now and then he knows there will be a lot of hard work to do. He’s at the bottom of a long ladder and he knows it will take blood, sweat and tears to get to the top of it.
“It’s been a dream of mine to turn pro and be a world champion since I was a kid,” he said.
“I couldn’t wait to turn pro and I thought I was at the right stage of my career and the right age to turn over. I think, with the deal I got and what I did in the amateurs, I turned at the right stage.
“It’s a completely different lifestyle. Boxing is boxing but professional and amateur are two completely different styles and two completely different games.
“Everyone thinks: ‘Oh he’s a pro boxer, he must be making this... or you’re some sort of a celebrity but it’s not like that. I don’t think anyone would really understand the life of a pro boxer unless they did it themselves, maybe it’s not all it’s made out to be but you have to start somewhere and when you hit that level (title level) then it is the high life.”
CATHY McAleer will make history when she ducks through the ropes at the Ulster Hall in February for the first ever female professional at the renowned Belfast venue.
Bantamweight McAleer intends to impress fight fans on the ‘A night to remember’ bill headlined by Commonwealth champion James Tennyson which is being put together by MHD Promotions in association with A McLean Bookmakers.
“I’m over the moon to be fighting in the Ulster Hall,” she said.
“To be in the first-ever female professional fight at the venue is an honour and a privilege.”
McAleer, trained by Belfast coach John Breen, made her debut at the Shorts Sports and Social Club last month and scored a points win over Teodora Hristova.
“I learned quite a bit from that fight,” she said.
“I should have moved more and used my boxing more and put in to practise what I had been doing in the gym instead of being involved in a war,” said McAleer, who signed a three-fight deal with MHD Promotions and is also hopeful of a title shot within the year.
Also on the bill are Paul Hyland jnr, Tommy McCarthy, Feargal McCrory, Luke Wilton and Matthew Fitzsimons.
Tickets can be purchased at the Ulster Hall Box Office or from fighters on the bill or Telephone 07712473905
KELL Brook looked far from convincing as he recorded a unanimous points victory over Australia's Michael Zerafa in Saturday's super-welterweight fight in Sheffield.
Having spent the build-up to the fight taunting Amir Khan over what he claimed was the Bolton man's reluctance to fight him, the 32-year-old produced a performance which would hardly have had his compatriot running scared.
Despite a fast start in the opening round, the Yorkshireman was well below his best, looking laboured and allowing his unheralded opponent to land with far too many shots.
However, he was still too good for Zerafa, winning the final eliminator for the WBA super-welterweight world title by 118-110, 119-109 and 117-111 on the judges' scorecards.
Brook admitted after the fight, his first since March, he had felt "rusty" and "flat" before again turning his attention to Khan.
"I've got the buzz again, I'm reborn," Brook said on Sky Sports. "Next year, 2019, I'm coming for them big boys. It's now or never. Amir, I'm ready, I'm hungry, I'm fit."
Khan appears more likely to pursue a fight against American welterweight Terence Crawford than focus on an all-British super-fight, but promoter Eddie Hearn admitted Brook's latest performance might prompt a change of heart.
"If I was Amir Khan I would be on the phone now to take this fight," he said.
