WBO Inter Continental Super Lightweight title: Tyrone McKenna (21-2-1) v Jose Felix Jr (38-4-1)
THE real Mexican will be the last man standing tonight, saysTyrone McKenna who predicts that his fighting heart will be too much for Sinaloa-born opponent Jose Felix junior to handle tonight.
‘Mighty Celt’ McKenna says he has one thing on his mind “and that is war”.
“I’m going to go into the centre of the ring,” he predicted.
“He saying he’s a Mexican, he’s looking for blood, he’s looking to test me to see if I am a real Mexican but I can guarantee that he’ll find out on Friday night.
“8,000 fans haven’t been to a boxing event in two years and I want to entertain them. A month ago Jamie Conlan came to me with a few people I could fight and I picked the hardest one for the fans.
“There was a guy on the list with 13 wins and three losses but I saw his record with 33 wins and 30 knockouts and I knew that’s what the fans would want to see so I picked him.
“I don’t want easy fights, I’m not going out to bore the public so if it goes 10 rounds it’ll be a bloodbath. I guarantee a war.”
Felix junior seemed to enjoy McKenna’s showmanship. Still just 29, he has been a professional for 11 years now and says he’ll produce a performance worthy of his country’s proud fighting tradition.
“McKenna says he’s a Mexican, but it’s not the same when you’re in with a real Mexican,” he said.
“It’s going to be a very good fight. I’m prepared mentally and physically because I respect Tyrone a lot and I know he throws a lot of punches. But on Friday night I’m going to win the title.”
Felix junior’s record looks weighty impressive but on closer inspection his stoppage record is inflated by 18 in his first 22 fights – all on home soils. He is a capable fighter but has struggled against better class opponents in the second half of career and McKenna has the size, skill and ambition to win this one tonight.
Prediction: McKenna
EBU European Bantamweight title: Lee McGregor (10-0) v Vincent Legrand (32-0)
BRITISH and Commonwealth champion ‘Lightning’ puts his EBU belt on the line against unbeaten Legrand in the chief support tonight.
French challenger Legrand has marched to 32-0 with 17 early wins but Edinburgh native McGregor says he hasn’t mixed at his level and predicts he’ll “get the job done in style”.
“You don’t get to 32-0 with 17 knockouts if you don’t know what you’re doing,” he said.
“He must be a good fighter but I don’t think he’s been competing at the level that I have. I’ll ask the questions that need answered by him. He’s coming up against a big bantamweight this weekend and I think he’s going to feel that. No matter what he brings, I’m confident I’m going to get the job done in style.”
Prediction: McGregor
WBC International Super-Middleweight title: Sergey Gorokhov (11-2-2) v Padraig McCrory (11-0)
LAST time out road warrior Gorokhov travelled to Belgrade and beat unbeaten Serb Marko Nikolic to win the WBC International belt he defends against ‘the Hammer’ tonight.
“I am ready to fight,” said the Russian. But McCrory is confident he can repeat his success of two years ago when he stopped Steve Collins junior at the Feile to win the Celtic super-middleweight belt. This is a step up in class for McCrory but he believes he can make it, especially in front of his home fans.
“I’ve been in training so I’m not worried about not fighting, I’m more than ready for this fight,” he said.
“He has fought away and in his last fight he beat a guy who was 27-0. I don’t think it’s going to faze him much but he hasn’t fought in front of 8000 Irish fans.
“I think it’s going to give me a massive edge. My last fight at Feile, I was getting in tight, it was a hard fight and the fans’ cheering gave me the extra lift that I needed to get a final round stoppage.”
McCrory who hasn’t seen much action over the past 18 months and Gorokhov will be game but could be found out at this level.
Prediction: McCrory
Undercard (first fight at 5.20pm)
Welterweight: Paddy Donovan (6-0) v Jose Luis Castillo (9-5-1)
Lightweight: Sean McComb (11-1) v Vicente Martin Rodriguez (39-6-1)
Super-featherweight: Callum Bradley (4-0) v Brett Fidoe (15-63-5)
Lightweight: James McGivern (2-0) Ed Harrison v (2-7)
Middleweight: Fearghus Quinn (2-0) v Dwain Grant (3-10-1)
Lightweight: Cian Lewis (debut) v Carlos Arroyo (5-19-1)
