TIERNAN Bradley’s coach Scott Welch is a former heavyweight who came within a win of getting a fight with Mike Tyson and actually ended up working as a bodyguard for the former world champion on one of his London trips.
At 6-0, up-and-coming Bradley is still a long way from that level but the Brighton-based Omagh super-lightweight doesn’t intend to miss the boat and he weighed-in for tonight’s Galway fight night bang on the 65kg limit. His opponent Adrian Orban (6-1) weighed in heavier but Bradley took the fight anyway and says his Hungarian opponent’s extra weight won’t make any difference.
“It doesn’t faze me,” said Bradley.
“It’s still going to be the same outcome. He’ll get the same treatment he would have got anyway – maybe more!”
Local favourite Kieran Molloy headlines the action tonight (live on ESPN) against Fernando Mosquera and Bradley will be one of the draws on an eye-catching undercard that includes the Irish light-heavyweight battle between Jamie Morrissey and Kevin Cronin.
Illness contributed to Orban’s loss in the USA to unbeaten prospect Corey Marksman in January but he has won on home soil since then and former Connor McGregor sparring partner Bradley expects a full-on challenge from the one-time Olympic Games hopeful tonight.
“He’s no journeyman, he’s coming to fight,” said Bradley who won the sixth fight of his career in Bournemouth in February.
He moved to Brighton to concentrate on his training prior to Christmas and feels he is progressing steadily with Welch.
“He’s sharp and he’s been teaching me a lot of things,” he said.
“He’s bringing out my true potential, my power, into my fighting. I’ve been putting everything we’ve been working on for the last four months together and I showed that in my last fight.”
His last fight was a 90-second knockout win against 8-2 Columbian Weimar Jaramillo and there was a spiteful edge to his punches that night.
“I’m really harnessing my power,” he said.
“I’m still working on it, I feel I can get way stronger that I am now. Orban is a better opponent than I’ve had so far in my career and I’ll be happy if it turns out to be an absolute war.
“I’m not there to take damage but I’m there to entertain fans and I do love a war so I’m really looking to getting in there and putting on a really good performance.”
The Top Rank/Conlan Boxing show is a first for the west of Ireland and fight fans snapped up the tickets in under three hours. Another bill, this time at the NUIG arena which has a bigger capacity, is already in the works and a good performance will do Bradley’s career no harm at all as he looks to move into the next phase.
“I’m ready to kick on,” he said.
“I’ve based myself in the UK and I want to get on some of the big shows over there and think it is a possibility.”
The line-up at Leisureland, Salthill (live on ESPN):
Welterweight: Kieran Molloy (4-0) v Fernando Mosquera (6-3)
BUI Ireland National Light-heavyweight title: Jamie Morrissey (5-0) v Kevin Cronin (5-1)
Super-featherweight: John Cooney (7-0) v Sandeep Singh Bhatti (8-7)
Featherweight: Kurt Walker (5-0) v Jonatas Rodrigo (4-2)
Welterweight: Danny Keating (6-0) v Greyvin Mendoza (7-2-1)
Welterweight: David Ryan (2-0) v Berman Sanchez (30-42-4)
Super-lightweight: Tiernan Bradley (6-0) v Adrian Orban (6-1)
Super-bantamweight: Gerard Hughes (2-0) v Francisco Rodriguez (1-11)
