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Declan Geraghty makes surprise return TONIGHT – aiming to rid Marco McCullough of excuses

Marco McCullough will be out of excuses after Declan Geraghty records victory in Hungary tonight claims the Dub himself.

Geraghty [17(4)-3(2)] revealed just yesterday that he fights for the first time since he suffered defeat to Jono Carroll back in June – and once the quickly-arranged bout in the Budapest suburb of Eger is done with he believes his MTK stablemate will have nowhere to hide.

The Dubliner is desperate to take on the Belfast fighter and admits he has been trying to goad his MTK counterpart into a bout that was first scheduled for October before being cancelled due to a hand injury suffered by the the southpaw.

‘Pretty Boy’, who also has Irish title ambitions, took to Twitter, albeit reluctantly considering his respect for the former British title challenger, of late to try and get McCullough [21(11)-4(3)] “to bite”.

However, the 29-year-old shot down the fight proposal, pointing out that a clash with the southpaw wouldn’t progress his career as he couldn’t defend his IBO ranking title against a fighter whose last result was a loss.

Geraghty will almost certainly change that against journeyman Richard Horvath tonight – on a bill which also includes Cork 17-year-old James Power – and believes a win could set up another mouthwatering all-Irish clash.

“Marco McCullough – won’t fight me. He won’t defend his belt against me until get a win. When I win in Hungry there are no excuses,” he told Irish-Boxing.com before flying out to Hungary. 

“I don’t know what the lads [MTK] want to do, but I would like that fight and if I win Marco can defend the title against me. It’s a good fight.”

“Marco wasn’t biting when people were asking him about the fight. I didn’t want to take to Twitter and call him out or anything. Honestly he is nice fella but I had to do something. “

“I didn’t want to talk out of school but he didn’t bite so I had to say ‘when are you going to grows set a balls’ then he said that about the title. If I have a win then that can’t be used as an excuse.”

Geraghty was scheduled to fight McCullough last year, but had to pull out of the proposed meeting due to injury.

He explained how “I took the fight after a bit of a break and had six weeks notice after a few months of living a normal life and going our weekends. I was training but not hard and then in the first week of camp I caught Karl Kelly on the head and my hand swelled.”

“For a fight that big I need to be 100 percent after the Jono fight I needed my best performance too, and with just six weeks to go until the fight I had to pull out. They asked me did I want a hard or easy fight and I told them I don’t want anymore easy fights.”

“I want meaningful fights, but after the Jono defeat I had to be at my best next time out.”

Being in peak condition and possibly at his most confident seems very important to a slick operator like the EU silver medallist, but that is espically the case if he was to fight against McCullough.

It seems the 28-year-old either believes his career couldn’t take another all-Irish fight defeat or he personally couldn’t face it.

Geraghty explained how “after the defeats I have had and, after the Jono fight, 100 percent I have produce and I have to win. If I lose to Marco I am packing in it, honestly,” he adds before that ‘Pretty Boy swagger returns.

“But I’d stopped Marco in six rounds. I believe it wouldn’t go the distance. That is not me being cocky I don’t like talking bad about Marco, he is a nice fella. That is me just saying what I think.”

Photo Credit: Ricardo Guglielminotti – The Fighting Irish (@ThefIrish)

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Jonny Stapleton

Irish-boxing.com contributor for 15 years and editor for the past decade. Have been covering boxing for over 16 years and writing about sports for a living for over 20 years. Former Assistant Sports editor for the Gazette News Paper Group and former Tallaght Voice Sports Editor. Have had work published in publications around the world when working as a freelance journalist. Also co-founder of Junior Sports Media and Leinster Rugby PRO of the Year winner. email: editoririshboxing@gmail.com

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