SEAN McComb was born with self-confidence and natural boxing ability in equal measure. There are few better technical boxers than the West Belfast ‘Public Nuisance’ but his innate confidence was shaken to the core when he was stopped by Welsh battering ram Gavin Gwynne in England back in February 2021.
He spent a while in the wilderness mulling over his options before he returned to the ring for the Feile in Falls Park that August and he returns to the brilliant 'pop-up' venue with his confidence now fully restored. On Friday night McComb will be chief support on the West Belfast bill and he’ll defend his WBO European belt against Spanish contender Alejandro Moya (17-1).
"I'm expecting an absolute masterclass of a performance from myself,” said McComb.
"I'm expecting a tough fight but I just need to do what I do best and that's box.
"He has fought for titles before and he's familiar with the big rounds - the 10 or 12-round fights. I'm familiar with them too and I've trained to do the rounds. I'm expecting a tricky opponent, he's got a really good, tight defence and it'll be a very similar fight to my last fight. I believe he's going to come forward and try and put it on me and I'm going to box and do what I do best."
McComb feels that his loss to Gwynne has turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Since the disappointment of that night in Bolton he has linked up with Pete Taylor and won five in-a-row.
"As Jamie Conlan said: 'It's Seanie Mac 2.0',” he said.
“I'm back with a vengeance and I've got a good run going. I always knew how good I was and I think people are starting to see that. After a wee bump in the road people start writing you off and that’s good stuff because at this stage of my career and how far I’ve come from that defeat people are starting to forget about it. New opponents coming on will watch that and think: ‘This is how you beat this guy’ whereas I’m watching it and I can see what I needed to do not to get beat.
“So it’s brilliant because I know their tactics coming in and I know they’re going to come forward because they think there’s a weakness in me. But they have to remember that I wasn’t even boxing in that fight, I was stuck fighting.”
Michael Conlan has been the Feile headline act up to this point but Pody McCrory will take top billing this year against England’s Steed Woodall. McComb usually walks from his home to the venue and he has ambitions of being the star of the show in the near future.
“A year from now I’m hoping to be on the cusp of a world title fight,” he said.
“I want to sit with Lee Eaton (manager) after this fight and talk about that but I’m not underestimating Moya by any means because I do believe that this will be a far harder opponent than Kaisee Benjamin. He’s got a far better defence, he takes his time and there’s less openings for me. So I need to be prepared for that but I would like to push on.
“I’m ranked 14th with the WBO and I’d like to push into the top 10. Everyone above me is a massive name – Ryan Garcia, Josh Taylor, Arnold Barboza, Teofimo Lopez… They are all massive names and I want to be pushing and challenging towards them.”
HIS knuckles were battered and bruised but Kurt Walker produced a career-best performance with a dominant display over iron-jawed Maicol Velazco last time out. The Lisburn featherweight was disappointed he didn’t force a stoppage win but he intends to build on an impressive performance at Friday’s Feile an Phobail bill.
“I think last time out, it had just been five weeks since Galway and that was the toughest fight I've had and will have for a long time, but it set me up nicely for Belfast,” he said.
“I tried some different stuff for the first time, which was good. I was a bit disappointed I didn't put him away, but that's the way it goes. A lot of people said it should have been stopped, but I kept putting it on him and on him, then had to take a 10-second breather.
“My knuckles were battered and bruised, the first time since I started boxing when I was eight that I've had bruised knuckles. But I enjoyed it, went on holiday the next day and then been back training, so I'm ready to go.”
He was one of the thousands of fans last time he went to the Feile fight night. That was back in 2019 when Michael Conlan, his former stablemate at Adam Booth’s London gym, beat Diego Ruiz. It was an interesting experience to say the least.
“Everyone was partying,” he said.
“It was mad, nearly like a rave with all the music between the rounds. It was crazy, so I'm really looking forward to getting in there and a new experience fighting outside, up to eight rounds again and it's building blocks every fight.
“Without realising it, you get new fans every fight with people coming to see you and the exposure.
It takes a while for it to build, but Jamie does it well with us always fighting in Belfast. I'm not about fussy fighting anywhere else until it's a big one where I have to travel. I like fighting in Belfast.”
Walker hopes to fight again in October and build towards a title fight in December and then hopes to cut loose in 2024.
“It could be something like a WBO Inter-Continental fight, something to get me a ranking and then onto a big fight in 2024, either British level or Irish level, European level, just something to get my name out there,” he said.
“I'll be 29 in 2024, but I feel like I'm only getting started. I've never really done S&C but I'm now improving by little bits every time.”
