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‘I still want that fight’ – McCullagh keeps Doheny in his sights


Tyrone McCullagh points out he has other options and notes a world title would no longer be on the line, but he is still adamant that he wants an all-Irish super bantamweight fight with TJ Doheny.

The Derry native had been vocal about wanting to make history by challenging the Laois man for his IBF world title and being involved in the first All-Irish world title fight

The ‘history’ element has been removed after ‘The Power’ suffered defeat in an enthralling clash with now unified champion Danny Roman last month, but it’s still a clash ‘White Chocolate’ wants.

The tricky southpaw, who is hopeful his successful WBO European ranking title defense against Alvaro Rodriguez in Newcastle on Saturday will secure him a top 10 ranking, suggests it’s an easy clash to make and hints iftheir common management want it, it will happen.

“I still want that fight,” McCullagh told Irish-Boxing.com.

“Whether or not it’s more or less likely to happen now I don’t know. It’s an easy fight to make. If MTK offer it, I’ll say yes, if not then no worries I’ll have other options.”

Going the WBO route is certainly one option the Derry City fighter can take.

That governing body’s world title will be put on the line by Emanuel Navarrete against the man he dethroned Isac Dogboe in Tuscon next weekend.

The 28-year-old would love to fight the winner and should be cheering for London-based Ghanaian Dogboe because his MTK connections make that an easy fight to make.

“Without a doubt [I would love the winner] they’re two exceptional fighters who I would love to share a ring with especially for a world title,” he responds when asked about this weekend’s clash before suggesting he sees no reason he couldn’t fight the winner.

“I don’t see why not especially now we are working along with Top Rank and ESPN.”

The Danny Vaughan-trained lefty has been talking up his world title chances since the turn of the year – and while he is confident he will secure a 2019 shot, he admits he doesn’t know how he will secure the shot never mind when it will come.

“I’m not too sure to be honest. I know I’m pretty close but when and how that’s down to my team. They’ve got me here and they know what’s best for me. I’ll let them handle that side of things and I’ll just try to keep on winning.”

McCullagh got the win on top of a Newcastle-hosted bill on Saturday, but wasn’t overly happy with his performance.

The king of awkward was ironically left frustrated by the unorthodox approach of the Spanish champion and felt he was dragged down a level.

“I can box a lot better, he was ver,y very unorthodox and messy and brought me down to his level a bit.”

“I also thought I was going to get points off me, as any time I attacked he dipped his head really low and the ref saw it that I was holding his head down so these all maybe factored into my performance but I got a convincing enough win and that was the main thing,” he adds before pointing out a footwear issue he may have to look into.

“My feet and toes also started blistering from round five onwards, which really hampered my movement, this has been a problem now in my last three fights so I’m going to need to do something about it.”

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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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