McCullough takes a break and leaves Breen’s Gym

Marco McCullough has split with long-time coach John Breen and is reevaluating his fight options.

The Irish featherweight champion was stopped by Issac Lowe in a Commonwealth title fight on the undercard of Frampton-Quigg in Manchester in February and has been thinking things through since. 

The 26 year old took a break post-fight, but has been back in his old amateur club Cairn Lodge in recent weeks – but with no immediate fight plans lined up.

Having claimed the Irish and WBO European title, the popular Belfast man defeated former World title challenger Dmitry Kirillov and looked set to kick on to big things.

However, a surprise stoppage defeat to Zoltan Kovacs last summer slowed things down somewhat. Two comeback wins and a fight with Lowe on a pay-per-view show gave the Belfast man the chance to regain momentum, but he under-performed in Manchester and as a result has gone back to the drawing board.

Speaking to the Irish News McCullough said

“I couldn’t work out what happened; whether I was burnt out or what really went on. I’m back ticking over in an amateur club, back to the basics again and I’ll see where I go from here.

“I’m not with John Breen any more. John is a brilliant guy, he really is, but I’ve had a couple of defeats now and I just thought it was time to change things up.

“I went down and had a chat to him and said: ‘John it’s nothing personal, I just need a change and see what else I can do’. I’ve left and I haven’t made any plans.”