Irish title hopeful Cruise ready to show the Dubs how its done
Darren Cruise has dropped in weight in a bid to increase his chances of a second Irish title fight.
The 26 year old will weigh in at 160lbs for with clash Ferenc Karona set for the National Stadium this coming Saturday night and is ready to stay at middleweight in a bid to challenge for the Irish title.
‘Dynamite’ has already challenged for the super middleweight green strap, losing a close encounter of the boxing kind to JJ McDonagh in April of this year, but still has Irish title ambitions.
He had hoped to fight Luke Keeler on the upcoming ‘The Future’ show, but the Ballyfermot middle had an American date lined up. However, Cruise is hopeful that fight can happen before the year is out, although he stresses he doesn’t care which Irish middleweight he has to fight to take the title, and has also name dropped the likes of Conrad Cummings.
“I will be coming in at middleweight for this fight and hopefully I deal with my opponent on Saturday night,” the Roscommon man told Irish-boxing.com.
“I want to fight for the Irish middleweight title by the end of the year. I don’t care who it’s against. I think I’ve proven that I’ll fight anyone. I’m really looking forward to showing the Dublin crowd what I’m all about this weekend.”
After months of calling for bigger fights, solider Cruise finally got the opportunity to make a statement and indeed claim a title. And despite losing to undefeated light heavyweight prospect Tom Baker on points, and losing by a round in an Irish super middleweight title fight with Westmeath’s McDonagh, the Roscommon native’s stock has risen.
He returns to Central European, and not so mouth-watering opposition at the weekend, when he faces Katona. While fight fans won’t be expecting an opponent with Atomic bomb capabilities Cruise is adamant he isn’t facing a fight Kitten on Saturday.
The Westerner isn’t expecting a ‘gimme’ win, nor has he approached the lesser lower-profile bout any different than he would a title tilt.
“I asked for a tough opponent and I think that’s what I got. he is an unbeaten Hungarian who is coming to win.”
“I trained for this fight as if it’s a 50/50 as I do all my fights.”
“I don’t get complacent in training I dedicate my life to improving everyday in the gym.”
