AmateurHeadline News

Brett McGinty plotting repeat victory over Michael Nevin


‘Mind Games’ might be a bit strong, but Brett McGinty believes he has a mental edge over Michael Nevin going into their Elite Senior middleweight final this Saturday night.

The Donegal-Derry fighter is the last Irish boxer to beat the prodigiously talented Nevin, defeating the three-time underage European gold medalist in an Under-18 final in 2016 back when both were welterweights.

Nevin would subsequently move up to middleweight and won bronze at the 2016 World Youths – where McGinty was team captain – and has been joined at 75kg for these championships by his former foe and team-mate.

The Oakleaf puncher acknowledges the talents of his Portlaoise opponent but is fully confident of grabbing another win over a fighter many are tipping as a Tokyo 2020 hopeful.

McGinty admitted that “he’s a classy operator, no two ways about it, credit where it’s due, he’s a class act.”

“But, I’ve beaten him before and I have full intentions of beating him again.”

“I’m the last person in the country to beat him, I’m sure that’s going to play on Michael’s mind.”

The move to middleweight for McGinty came following runner-up placings in the Irish and Ulster Seniors last year to Dean Walsh and Aidan Walsh (no relation) respectively,

“We only made that decision a few weeks ago,” revealed the 19-year-old. “So far so good.”

“It was the obvious thing for me to do. I was finding it hard towards the end of fights. I knew we had to sit down and rethink what we’re doing.”

“A lot of people said to me about last year’s final, against Dean Walsh, that I was fading hard towards the end of the fight, in the second and third. [it’s tough] keeping the high work-rate after a hard week of getting down to the weight and maintaining the weight over three weeks.”

“Your mind is a lot sharper and you feel a lot more confident in yourself.”

McGinty claimed two wins in two days at the weekend over Glory Lmula and Kelyn Cassidy, and was pleased with his performances going into a second successive Elite Senior final.

“Instead of making the mistakes I made in the Ulster final, I stuck behind the jab and stuck to my boxing skills and did what I had to do.”

“Sometimes when you get hit with a shot you see red and you go back looking for that shot. A couple of times I was caught clean, as you are, and I stayed calm, did what I had to do, and landed my own shots.”

dpg

Joe O'Neill

Reporting on Irish boxing the past five years. Work has appeared on irish-boxing.com, Boxing News, the42.ie, and local and national media. Provide live ringside updates, occasional interviews, and special features on the future of Irish boxing. email: joneill6@tcd.ie

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