Clocking up air miles will help nomadic Steven Cairns fly high
Steven Cairns is confident he will be able to cash in on both literal and metaphorical air miles when he reaches world level.
The nomadic prospect fights in a fifth new territory when goes to work on Friday night.
The 21-year-old puts Denmark beside the UK, Spain, Germany and Uzbekistan on the list of countries he has fought in since turning over, when he trades leather with Marian Wesolowski at the Graakjaer Arena, Holstebro.
Cairns admits there is no place like home and has the homecoming urge but the European Schools Championships medal winner is happy to be learning his trade in fights around the world.
The Cork talent believes the boxing equivalent of living out of a suitcase will only help him check a world title through customers further down the link.
“To be honest I love to travel and love to fight, so I’m getting the best of both worlds and getting great experience, but I do want to bring a fight night home soon,” he tells Irish-boxing.com.
“Plus this will definitely give me more of an advantage when I’m travelling for bigger fights because I’ll have done it before. My last fight was in Uzbekistan: a 7-hour plane ride, a different time zone, 40-degree heat, and different food.
“We were able to take it all in our stride and get the win and perform well too.”
At this stage of his career where Cairns fights isn’t the most important thing, the fact he is being kept busy is key.
It’s something the Munster man is aware of and grateful for going into his third fight this year.
“I am very happy with how active I am. This is the way it should be. I work my ass off in the gym and I always look forward to bringing what I do in the gym into the fight, as they say, a happy fighter is a dangerous fighter.”
Cairns takes on Marian Wesolowski, the game Pole who gave Dave Ryan a fight in Cork early this Summer. The Dave Coldwell-trained prospect hopes he’s equally as adventurous on Saturday.
“I’ve seen one or two clips of him, he looks tough and game Which is exactly what I want, it would let me show my class.”
Cairns wants to continue to prove his class and cement his status as a prospect to look out for by claiming a world youth title before the year is out.
“I will be looking at stepping up to eight rounds soon. I thought this one was going to be an 8-round fight, so I was sparring 8 and 10 rounds for the whole camp with some really good fighters. After this, I will definitely move into 8-round fights and I will be looking for a world youth title.”