Barrett wants title defences
1 September 2010
Irish heavyweight champion Coleman Barrett has been added to Brian Peters September 11 National Stadium card, which is headlined by the European title double header of Belfast’s Brian Magee defending his super middleweight crown against Roman Aramian while Kiko La Sensacin Martinez bids to recapture the super bantamweight crown against Arsen Martirosyan.
Should Barrett come through that assignment then he will make a quick return to action on Saturday, October 2 on the undercard of Paul McCloskeys European light-welterweight title defence against Barry Morrison at The Aura, Letterkenny.
Both bouts will be non title affairs, but Barrett is keen to defend his crown sooner rather than later.
A busy fighter is a happy fighter and these fights in Dublin and Letterkenny will give me an opportunity to show some of the things I have been working on in the gym, he said.
I’ve been getting some good sparring in with John McDermott for this fight in Dublin so I feel sharp and ready to go.
The Irish heavyweight scene was a bit of a ghost town for a while but things are definitely heating up again and I know there are quite a few guys out there eyeing up my title, said Barrett.
Obviously Martin Rogan is due back from injury soon and it will be great to have him back on the scene and I wish him the best but I don’t want to sit around waiting when there are some good defences out there for me. I won’t be avoiding anyone, I’ll beat whoever is put in front of me and I want to keep the Irish title active because before I won it, it hadn’t been fought for 13 years.
High on Barrett’s list of target is the previous holder of the Irish title Kevin McBride who will return to action in the UK next month in the next Prizefighter event with the big man from Clones having campaigned exclusively in the US for the last 12 years.
Kevin’s back on the scene here now and I’m sure he’ll give the Prizefighter a good go, said Barrett who reached a Prizefighter final himself in 2009 before losing out to Audley Harrison in what remains the only defeat of his career.
To be fair to Kevin he never lost the title in the ring so I’d have no problem giving him an opportunity. He’s a big, strong man and of course he made his name sending Mike Tyson into retirement so that would be a good fight for Irish boxing fans.
I don’t care who I fight but I want to keep the title busy. I’m willing to defend it against anyone who is looking to challenge me for it be that Rogan, McBride or guys like Ian Tims and Declan Timlin. I want to clean up in Ireland and then take the next step forward onto European level but that’s all for the future. First things first is my fight on Saturday week in Dublin and then the fight in Letterkenny and hopefully they will sharpen me up but you can never look too far ahead in this game so I won’t be taking my eye off the ball.
