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'Thanks for coming Liam...' Murphy vows to keep Celtic title in Belfast * Owen O'Neill promises career-best against Duffy * Pody McCrory to defend world title on St Patrick's weekend spectacular * Cathy McAleer returns

Pody McCrory’s first defence of his IBO light-heavyweight world title could be on a St Patrick’s weekend spectacular alongside Michael Conlan in Belfast next year. McCrory won the IBO belt with a brilliant display against Germany’s Leon Bunn last month and he will feature on the undercard of Conlan versus Karim Guerfi at the SSE Arena on December 10. Next month’s outing will be a 10-round non-title fight for ‘the Hammer’.
Pody McCrory’s first defence of his IBO light-heavyweight world title could be on a St Patrick’s weekend spectacular alongside Michael Conlan in Belfast next year. McCrory won the IBO belt with a brilliant display against Germany’s Leon Pody McCrory’s first defence of his IBO light-heavyweight world title could be on a St Patrick’s weekend spectacular alongside Michael Conlan in Belfast next year. McCrory won the IBO belt with a brilliant display against Germany’s Leon Bunn last month and he will feature on the undercard of Conlan versus Karim Guerfi at the SSE Arena on December 10. Next month’s outing will be a 10-round non-title fight for ‘the Hammer’.

COLM Murphy has no intention of allowing his hard-earned BUI Celtic featherweight to slip, or be ripped, out of his hands by Dubliner Liam Gaynor on Saturday night.

Murphy (5-1) versus Bolton-based Gaynor (9-1) is the headline act on a stacked small-hall show in Belfast and ‘Posh Boy’ means to continue where he left off in August when he won his belt against Ruadhan Farrell.

“The support I’ve had has been unreal,” said Murphy.

“Everybody has been buying tickets off me and for them to do that this close to Christmas is much appreciated. I really hope to put in a big performance on Saturday and defend my belt, keep it in Belfast and do everyone proud.

“I fought really hard to earn a shot at the title and then win it so I’ll push every button to defend it.”

Training out of Dee Walsh’s Gleann Gym, Murphy was in Frankfurt, Germany last month and has been inspired by his stablemate Pody McCrory who won the IBO light-heavyweight title with a punch-perfect performance against local favourite Leon Bunn.

“I got to see what’s possible if you keep putting the work in and trust your team,” said Murphy.

“I train with Pody and it just showed me how far the training we do can get you and I really hope that, down the line, I can repeat some of the success he has had.”

Gaynor has the same ambition of course. The Dubliner moved to England to concentrate on his career and is trained in Bolton by Alex Matvienko.

“Colm is up-and-coming, same as me,” Gaynor told The Irish News.

“It’s definitely not an easy fight but it’s one that I need and I feel like I’ll adapt well to whatever he comes with. In previous fights I’ve dealt with Brett Fidoe and Johnny Philips and they’re aggressive, come-forward fighters too.

“I’ve been up against good opponents as an amateur and as a pro so I feel I’m ready for whatever Colm has. If he wants to box, I know I can box; if he wants to fight, I know I can fight… So whatever he brings to the table, I can match him.”

Superbly fit with non-stop punch output, Murphy spent time in England in the early stages of his career and warned Gaynor that, if he thinks he can match him, he’ll find out on Saturday night that he’s mistaken.

“I was in England too for a while and I’ve got a better set-up here in Belfast,” he said.

“I’m getting better training and better sparring and I’ve been more active than him since Covid. I’m younger and I’ve fought eight rounds before. I know he’s going to ask a lot of questions of me but that’s exactly the kind of challenge I want because I believe that the better the fighter, the better I box.

“So, thanks for coming Liam, I’m going to pay you back with a brilliant performance!”

MHD Promotions bill, Girdwood Community Centre, Belfast:

Boxing Union of Ireland BUI Celtic Featherweight title: Colm Murphy (5-0) v Liam Gaynor (9-1)

Vacant Boxing Union of Ireland BUI Celtic Super Welterweight title: Owen O'Neill (9-0) v Owen Duffy (6-2)

Super-featherweight: John Cooney (5-0) v Engel Gomez (8-14-1)

Super-flyweight: Conor Quinn (2-0-1) v Mikey Young (2-6-1)

Super-bantamweight: Ruadhan Farrell (3-1) v John Spencer (0-24)

Middleweight: Dominic Donegan (5-4-1) v Josh Cook (0-21-1)

Super-lightweight: David Ryan (debut) v Ezequiel Gregores (3-12)

Tickets available on Eventbrite, from the boxers and at the door.

OWEN O’Neill expects to produce the career-best performance he says he’ll need to beat Cavan’s Owen Duffy and win the BUI Celtic super-welterweight belt in Saturday night’s MHD Promotions Belfast bill (live on TG4).

O’Neill (9-0) is well aware that he has a battle on his hands at the Girdwood Community Centre because southpaw Duffy (6-2) has proved that he will be a tough nut to crack. Duffy got off the canvas last time out and stopped fellow Breffni county fighter Dominic Donegan at the Europa Hotel.

“I was very impressed with Duffy against Donegan,” said O’Neill.

“It’ll take a career-best performance from myself to do the business on him because Dominic was probably winning the fight on points – he dropped Duffy in the second round – but Duffy got up, showed true grit and ended up stopping Dominic with a bodyshot.”

O’Neill was listed to fight Dubliner Marty Quinn on the same bill as Donegan-Duffy but Quinn’s withdrawal meant he had to settle for a six-rounder against Poland-born journeyman Marek Laskowski. He came through that test without drama and, although his goal is to campaign at welterweight in the future, he says the opportunity to fight for a title at super-welter was too good to turn down.

“He (Laskowski) was a tricky southpaw like Duffy,” he added.

“So it probably benefited me fighting him and Duffy is actually my third southpaw in-a-row.”

In preparation for Saturday night O’Neill has been sparring with Donegan and also with Joe Fitzpatrick, the former Commonwealth Games silver-medallist who announced his retirement from competitive boxing last weekend.

“It’s going to be a cracker,” O’Neill predicted.

“He showed in his last fight that he has true grit there to get up and do the business. The only time I’ve ever been hurt was in my second professional fight (versus Nicaraguan Geiboord Omier) - I got hit with a right hand and it nearly had me out but I came back and won.

“The two of us will seriously put things on the line. I’ve trained really hard for this and I’m leaving everything in the ring.”

AFTER almost two years’ out of action, Belfast’s Cathy McAleer returns to the ring as professional boxing returns to Dublin at the National Stadium on Saturday night.

The former Bredagh and Down ladies’ Gaelic Footballer features on a 10-fight card at ‘the Stadium’ which is headlined by Dubliner Robert Burke’s BUI Celtic Light Heavyweight title clash with Jiri Kroupa and also features Ricky Hatton-trained Donegal native Brett McGinty.

National Stadium, Dublin line-up:

Boxing Union of Ireland BUI Celtic Light Heavy (vacant): Robert Burke (2-1) v Jiri Kroupa (4-6)

Craig O'Brien (12-3) v Pavel Albrecht (14-19);

Danny Keating (5-0) v Ivan Njegac (13-26)

Ray Moylette (12-2) v Ivaylo Boyanov (4-10-1)

Brett McGinty (5-0) v Alessandro Ruggiero (6-10-2)

Dylan Wilson (3-0) v Jiri Jaros (6-24)

Liam Walsh (3-0-2) v Attila Dobolan (3-5)

Cathy McAleer (4-1) v TBC

Cathal Crowley (0-0-1) v Veselin Vasilev (0-4)

Daniel O'Sullivan (1-0) v Dale Arrowsmith (5-67-2)