Paddy Gallagher not worried by Gary Corcoran’s super sparring

Sparring the man tipped to take over as the pound-for-pound greatest fighter on the planet won’t help help Gary Corcoran get a result over Paddy Gallagher come June 30th warns ‘The Pat Man’.

Gallagher [13(8)-4(0)] and the recent world title challenger will trade leather on the undercard of Michael Conlan’s Homecoming card and, along with Declan Geraghty v Jono Carroll, Tyrone McKenna v Philip Sutcliffe Jr and Tyrone McCullagh v Joe Ham, is one of a number of mouthwatering undercard clashes.

Lenadoon welter Gallagher accepted the fight while battered, bruised and jet lag after his impressive if unsuccessful showing against Brad Solomon in the inaugural WBC José Sualimán Invitational – while Corcoran [17(7)-2(2)] was presented with the fight during his time spent sparring none other than Terence Crawford.

There have been some suggestions that working alongside such a talented operator in the lead up to the BT Sport-broadcast clash might prove an advantage to the fighter of Connacht heritage but the Belfast cult hero refutes the claim.

The rough and tumble Londoner was stopped in the eleventh round by WBO champion Jeff Horn late last year but caused some problems early on. The Aussie will now defend his belt in Las Vegas next month, taking on Crawford who steps up in weight.

“That’s unbelievable sparring, I admire him for that, that’s good quality, but they would have got him over because he fought Jeff Horn. That’s smart by them [Team Crawford] they can get some inside information but Crawford is a different fighter to me,” a chirpy Gallagher told IFL TV.

“Obviously he is a few leagues above me but he is a different type of fighter. It might do Corcran’s confident a bit of good but he is barking up the wrong tree. I am sure he will get different sparring for me when he comes over but I will do my own sparring and I’ll be ready to rock,” he added before stressing he will be ready for the SSE Odyssey Arena-hosted fight night despite being in action across the Atlantic just last weekend.

“It’s a big fight. I am here with jet lag and two steakers and a wonky jaw. I haven’t even got over the last fight but I’ll take the rest of the week off and then back into camp on Monday which gives me eight weeks, so it’s perfect.”

The 29-year-old Belfast fighter goes into the fight on the back of a defeat but undoubtedly his best display.

Gallagher admits he thought he defeated Brad Solomon on a TV card in America but the judges ruled against him despite the fact he scored a first round knockdown.

The Belfast welter isn’t bitter and is now just looking forward to taking on a fighter who in his last fight challenged Jeff Horn for the WBO world title.

“It was a good fight against a world class operator. We knew he was good, we didn’t know how good until we got in there. I tried to watch it back as unbiased as possible and I gave it five rounds each.  That was me giving him close rounds and I knocked him down in the first round, so I should have won it by a point.”

“I am not going to cry about it. I didn’t get robbed I got beaten by a very close decision. It was a wee bit dodgy because after the fifth round I won four of the first five rounds and put him down in the first round, four of the judges had me up and one judge had him up four round to one after me knocking him down and beating the head off him. So just by that I needed to win one of the last five rounds but he won they gave him them all and I definitely won the last round – but, as I said, I won’t cry about it.

“It was an unbelievable experience, it was amazing opportunity for me. I went over did my bit, got a nice big WBC medal, got treated well. I fought on a big card, got on TV, meet Holyfield and other big name fighters.

“Now we are back to take care of business back home, back at the SSE.”

Watch Paddy Gallagher’s interview with IFL TV below: