John Hutchinson has changed his mind about a Pauly Upton fight

Buncrana’s John Hutchinson [7(1)-2(0)-2] is dead-set on winning the Irish light middleweight title this year – and is willing to fight one of his stablemates if needs be.

Hutchinson had previously said that he would not fight Irish champion Pauly Upton due to them being both friends and MGM stablemates.

However, with all-MGM bouts now being mooted by some, for example Tyrone McKenna v Phil Sutcliffe Jr and Con Sheehan v Sean Turner, Hutchinson admits that he would punch with Pauly if it affords him the honour of challenging for the belt a second time.

The Donegal boxer, who lost to Peter McDonagh for the belt back in 2014, has relocated to Phuket in Thailand for 2017, but is planning a return to these shores later in the year for a green belt battle – potentially with Upton.

Hutchinson spoke to Irish-Boxing.com and clarified that “I know me and Pauly said we wouldn’t fight each other as we were both MGM fighters, but there are more MGM fighters looking to fight each other now, so it’s a different story.”

“If it came to the crunch and I had to box Pauly to get a shot at the Irish, the friendship would go aside for one night. I spoke to MGM recently and was told that I 100% will get a shot at the Irish this year.”

The 30 year old is anticipating a return to the ring in the coming weeks, and promises to be better than ever once he kicks into gear.

“I’ll be getting stronger better with each fight,” he claimed. “I think, two or three fights down the line, you’ll see the best of me this year.”

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Joe O’Neill and Gavan Casey look ahead to 2017 in episode 1 of The Irish Boxing Show