‘I’ll fight any of them’: Rhys Owens wants a strap shot after latest win
After seeing off Cesar Ignacio Paredes in Letterkenny, Rhys Owns wants a title shot next.
With an eight-rounder – and a win – under his belt, Owens (5-0, 1KO) is now title-eligible.
The Enniskillen man scored a shutout 80-72 points win over Parades, but the Peruvian southpaw made him earn his crust.
“My full focus was on the fight tonight, but now that we’ve got it out of the way we can look and see who’s about domestically,” Owens said.
“We can line up a big show. It’ll obviously have to make sense. It’ll have to be on a big show and it’ll have to make sense financially.
“I’ll fight any of them boys but it’ll just have to be on the right setting.”
Owens won’t be short of options as he looks now to head for title territory, be it a shot at an Irish crown or, possibly, a Celtic strap.
His first 12 months in the paid ranks have certainly been useful, the Erne BC standout racking up five win.
He said: “There’s options, the domestic route and across the water. I’m ready to go whenever.
“I’ll fight any of them. That’s not me being cocky or being very arrogant in a sense. I just believe in my ability.
“You didn’t see the half of me there. It’s hard to look good against that opponent. I haven’t seen it yet but I thought I’d done alright.
“Whenever I’m boxing somebody that’s in there and the stakes are as high for them as it is for me. That’s when you’ll see the best Rhys Owens.”
In November 2024, Owens became an Irish Elite champ when beating Adam Hession. He recalled that Parades was his first southpaw since overcoming Dylan Eagleson in an Ulster final in January 2025.
Owens said: “It was a tough night’s work. He was a real handful in there. I was comfortable and I was in control, but it was just hard to find those gaps.
“He was a seasoned vet and he knew he was catching the shots well and he was riding with the punches. The main thing was eight rounds banked and on to the next.
“I’m obviously disappointed not to get him out of there, but in the long run the eight rounds will do me the world of good – especially against the calibre of opponent that he is. He’s boxed everybody and nobody from the UK has been able to stop him, so I can’t be that hard on myself.
“He hit me a few clean shots too and that does no harm, because I don’t think I’ve been hit flush yet as a pro. It was good to just get in there and feel it. It was kind of like a welcome to professional boxing in a sense. It’ll stand me and do me the world of good.”
Owens could well make himself an option for a Matchroom or Queensberry card given that he was able to summons a couple of hundred supporters from Fermanagh in the midst of a storm to travel to Letterkenny.
He said: “It would be nothing without the fans behind me. They were amazing from start to finish. Without that fan base I wouldn’t be headlining shows and that’s just as simple as that.
“It sounded like there were 300 of them, The Killie Boys; they were making some noise and it was classic I could hear them all chanting from down here.”
