“It’s a Natural Fight” – Darragh Foley tells Eddie Hearn to give him Matchroom New Boy
Darragh Foley [19(9)-4(0)-1] has told Eddie Hearn he can help him crack Australia – and is willing to fight new signing Liam Paro to prove it.
Matchroom and DAZN are making advances Down Under and plan to move into the territory this year.
The bombastic Blanchardstown light welter says it would be wise of Hearn and co to employ his services if they want to make a success of their latest venture.
The Sydney-based southpaw, with a history of stealing the spotlight both during fight week and on fight night, argues that, as an entertaining and well-supported name, he is perfectly placed to help Matchroom ‘crack’ Australia.
“Absofuckinglutely,” was the typically flamboyant Foley response when asked by Irish-Boxing.com if fighting on DAZN appealed.
“I’m one of the biggest names in Australia, currently a free agent, DAZN are leading the way and what better way to crack the Aussie market than with a well established Irish warrior who has proven to be in fan friendly fights,” he adds giving the full sales pitch.
“Every time I fight, I fight with my heart, never retreating and in front of a very vocal, loyal, boisterous fanbase.”
As part of the Australian expansion Matchroom have signed rising star Liam Paro.
✍️ @ParoLiam 🤝
The 22-0 Australian Super-Lightweight sensation joins the @MatchroomBoxing team 👊🇦🇺
— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) December 28, 2021
The 25-year-old from Brisbane has won all 22 of his professional contests since turning over in March 2016 and currently sits at No.3 in the world with the WBO and IBF.
‘The Prodigy’ earned a career-best win last month on the Jake Paul vs. Tyron Woodley 2 undercard, outpointing previously unbeaten Puerto Rican Yomar Alamo via split decision over ten rounds.
Foley, who once threw nappies at now undisputed lightweight champion George Kambosos Jr, says Hearn has signed the second or third best Australian based light welter and, considering he is self proclaimed #1, believes a fight between the pair is an obvious one to make.
“It’s a natural fight,” he continues, “I’m the consensus number one at 140 in the country and he is probably number two, it’s him or that other shitebag, Stevie “Mr Nice Guy” Spark, who sold his spare rib to Tim Tsyzu for 120,000 Australian dollars.”
If the fight was to be made, Foley warns that a well-minded Paro would suffer the same fate as his managerial stablemate Miles Zalewski did in 2015.
“He has done well thus far. I can’t knock him, his management team have done a tremendous job picking his fights. However his management team knows me only too well as the last time they flew me up to Queensland to face their undefeated prospect he was rendered unconcious within a round, always a pleasure, so they are extremely wary of me and very rightly so. He ain’t ready for this!”
The last time Foley was seen in the ring he was registering victory in the Irish-Boxing.com 2020 Fight of the Year, defeating Ty Telford in one of the most dramatic fights of recent times.
It looked as if that victory would set him up for a busy 2021 full of high-profile fights. However, injury and placing trust in the ‘wrong person’ hampered his plans.
“Last year I put my trust in the wrong person and received bad advice for the first half of the year, that’s on me. For the second half I was penciled in to fight a weight up [v Ben Kite] just to get active and as no one in Australia fancied the task at 140 my best weight. However, in the build-up to that fight, a reoccurring shoulder injury got too much and I had to bite the bullet. I got shoulder surgery to clear up a multitude of old sins.
“But we will finish on the good news. This year, 2022, I’m fully healthy, fully focused, and fully committed to doing the most damage I can and getting every last drop out of my desire and talent.
“Have a great New Year everybody and thanks for watching.”
