Lindsay offered world title eliminator
28 October 2009 – By Mark Doyle
Martin Lindsays manager, John Rooney Jnr., has revealed that the British featherweight champion was offered an IBF world title eliminator against Orlando Salido.
However, Rooney explained that he turned the bout down as he does not want to push Lindsay onto world level too soon, preferring instead to allow the 27-year-old Belfast native to concentrate solely on his appearance on the undercard of Paul McCloskeys European light-welterweight title clash with Souleymane Mbaye in Derry on November 6.
“At the minute, Martins just focused on putting in a good performance in Magherafelt,” Rooney explained. “Then he will have to defend the British title against Jamie Arthur (in January) and well weigh up our options again after that.
“Theres no rush in going for the world title. All that will come in time. For now, its about defending the British title and then looking at a possible European title shot because Martins well placed for all these opportunities now.”
And Lindsay is also refusing to get ahead of himself even though he now appears to be only two or three bouts away from a world title shot.
“To be honest, the only fight Im looking at right now is the fight in Magherafelt,” he insisted. “You can never look too far ahead in this game so you just have to focus on whats in front of you and as long as you keep winning then everything else falls into place.”
The McCloskey-M’baye bill in Derry will be live on Sky Sports and tickets priced 30, 60 and 90 are available from Ticketmaster, all usual outlets and the boxers on the bill. Contact Ticketmaster 0844 8472455 (0818 719300 from ROI), Box Office 01277 359900, Julie 07745698372, Emma 07703723074, Francie 07803282224 or Eurospar 02877741245.
