Headline NewsNews

‘He was offered the fight and rejected it’ – ‘shocked’ Padraig McCrory hits back at ‘disrespectful’ Taylor McGoldrick

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is liffey-crane-hire-1.jpg

Padraig McCrory claims ‘disrespectful’ Taylor McGoldrick was offered the chance to fight him on the February 1 #MTKFightNight, only to turn it down.

The Tyrone southpaw returns on the card after suffering surprise stoppage defeat at the gloves of Latvian journeyman Gennadi Stserbin in June.

Speaking to Irish-boxing.com last week he revealed he wanted to put some distance between himself and that defeat before targeting McCrory, who he would have faced at the Falls Park in August had he won in June, or Steve Collins Jr.

‘The Hammer’ went on to defeat Collins on the undercard of Michael Conlan’s annual Belfast bout, picking up the BUI Celtic super middleweight title in the process.

However, it seems the now Daniel Anderson trained McGoldrick wasn’t too impressed with the Belfast man’s win.

“I believe I would beat him very easily. I thought Steve Collins jr was robbed of the title. He was winning most rounds and the fight was stopped premature,” said McGoldrick.

Responding after himself being confirmed on the show, McCrory admits he was surprised to read the comments.

The undefeated 31-year-old felt they were disrespectful and wonders why if McGoldrick is so confident of victory he didn’t take up an offer to fight on February 1.

“I thought it was disrespectful and was kind of shocked,” McCrory told Irish-boxing.com. “I was nothing but nice to him after that brutal KO but I’ll not worry to much about it

“It was a fight that was offered for February 1st and rejected it,” he adds before leaving the door slightly a jar for a meeting down the line. I’ve a few dates lined up and I know the fights there if I want it but I am not sure if I want to be hanging around defending my BUI Celtic title. I would like to push on and challenge myself, but who knows. Just to point out again a fight was offered and rejected.”

The ticket selling fighter revealed he should still be in title action come the stacked card.

McCrory will most likely defend his domestic strap, but has yet to find a willing opponent.

“We’re looking at a few avenues for February but its more than likely going to be a defense of my BUI Celtic, but doing 8 rounds opens up more options and if I stay on track I’ve a few massive nights coming. We’ve look at a few for the next fight and offered 1 or 2 the fight with no joy, but MTK are on it and I trust they will get a suitable opponent.”

The Ray Ginley trained fighter goes into the new year on the back of the biggest win of his career. The popular puncher stopped Collins in the last round of a domestic dust up at the Falls Park and live on ESPN+.

He delights in platform the win played out on, but not so much in the manner in which it was achieved, although he does admit he may be a little hash on himself.

“I think when I take the whole occasion on board I am happy with the win. Collins came out swinging and give me a great fight but I dug deep a produced the goods. But To be honest I was a bit disheartened by the performance. I always felt I was winning and looking back and hearing rumours of Collins being sensational in sparring leading up to the fight, it’s probably a better win than I give myself credit for.”

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

x