By Jonny Stapleton

HE has not amassed the fame, praise and recognition as Panama’s greatest sports star Roberto Duran as of yet, but Belfast teen Stephen Quinn’s miss pronounced name can be heard coming off a number of Panamanian boxing fans lips of late.

The Belfast super bantamweight signed a very unique four year deal to fight out of the exotic country and after making an impressive debut the locals have begun to take note.

The son of former pro talent Stevie Quinn, Quinn Jr’s Panama adventure began on March 15. The rangy boxer, who spend six weeks in his fight home before a clash, registered a shut out points win and has two more fights lines up between now and June 14.

“I fought on March 15 and won it on points. I am fighting on the 30th of this month and the 14th of next month, so things are looking good. I won easy enough, dropped the guy in the 3rd and won every round. Yea the people seem to like me, iv had a few people stop me in the street. Its exciting,” Quinn told irish-boxing.com before discussing life in his
new home.

“I am over here for 6 weeks. Boxing wise the style is completely different, they are so fit and tough. And the heat is unbearable. It is pretty mad, much different from home, very hard to get used too and they speak Spanish so that doesn’t help any!!.”