Headline News

First Irish fighter confirmed in Golden Contract Tournament

Tyrone McKenna {19(6)-1(0)-1] is the first Irish name confirmed in MTK’s exciting Golden Contract tournament.

The Belfast fighter is one of three exciting names listed in the first list of fighters to compete in the light welterweight version of the tournament.

Jamie Conlan, Professional Development Co-ordinator with MTK, confirmed to Irish-Boxing.com that multiple Irish fighters will feature in the eight-man brackets at featherweight, light welterweight, and light heavyweight.

Irish-boxing.com predicted ‘The Mighty Celt’ was a ‘shoo in’ and we have been proved correct tonight.

READ: Which Irish Boxers will fight in Golden Contract Tournament?

McKenna was confirmed alongside Ohara Davies[19(14)-2(1)] and Anthony Yigit [24(8)-2(1)-1] by MTK on Sunday.

The winner of each tournament will land a two-year, five-fight deal that guarantees six-figure purses for every fight along with global exposure.

To add to the excitement, fighters will not know their opponents until fight week, at the start of which the highly anticipated draws will be made. All titles held will be on the line in each fight and knockout bonuses are also on offer.

McKenna and Davies being confirmed alongside each other will add to the Irish excitement.

The rangy southpaw and Irish fight character has called for a scrap with ‘Two Tanks’ for some time now, only to have his call outs rebuffed.

Now the pair could meet with a lot a stake in a high profile tournament.

Davies heads into the tournament on the back of his victory against former world champion Miguel Vasquez in June, going alongside the wins he has picked up over the likes of Derry Mathews, Andrea Scarpa, Tom Farrell and Paul Kamanga earlier in his career.

Davies said: “I have entered the Golden Contract tournament because I love fighting. I’ve been doing it ever since I was a kid.

“There are many other fighters that are world-class level entering the tournament, but I believe I’m one of the best in the world and this is the only way I’m going to prove it, by entering the tournament and coming in first place.

“I’m confident I will win because I think I am the hungriest fighter in the tournament. Nobody works as hard as me and I don’t think there’s anyone that wants to win as much as I do.”

Former Phil Sutcliffe foe is ranked #5 by the IBF and #13 by the WBC and is a former European champion with wins over the likes of Joe Hughes, Lenny Daws, Siar Ozgul as well as ‘Young Phil’, he also challenged for the IBF world title last October.

Yigit said: “I’m excited to be participating in the Golden Contract tournament. You’ll see explosive fights from me and I’ll be making sure to see all of them. Everyone will see me on top of the world again.”

Three quarter-finals nights will take place in October / November, three semi-finals nights in February / March and the all-important finals will be staged in May / June.

dpg

Jonny Stapleton

Irish-boxing.com contributor for 15 years and editor for the past decade. Have been covering boxing for over 16 years and writing about sports for a living for over 20 years. Former Assistant Sports editor for the Gazette News Paper Group and former Tallaght Voice Sports Editor. Have had work published in publications around the world when working as a freelance journalist. Also co-founder of Junior Sports Media and Leinster Rugby PRO of the Year winner. email: editoririshboxing@gmail.com

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