John Hutchinson tells Irish champion Pauly Upton to defend or vacate
John Hutchinson [9(2)-2(0)-2] has called for Irish light middleweight champion Pauly Upton [13(2)-0] to either defend against him or free up the belt.
The ‘Buncrana Banger’ is desperate to secure the green strap before the year is out and willing to face all comers in his bid to become Irish champ.
There has been talk of possible fights with old foe Ger Healy as well as two-time Irish title challenger Terry Maughan, but the belt is currently in the possession of the eldest of the three fighting Upton brothers, and it is Pauly who is currently attracting the attention of the Donegal man.
Hutchinson fought for the Irish 154lbs strap back in 2015, losing to Peter McDonagh, and the 30 year old badly wants to be the first ever Donegal Irish champion.
The popular boxer, who registered career win number 9 in Australia on St Patrick’s Day, claims he is willing to fight his MTK stablemate, but urged the champ to vacate if he has no intention of defending.
“I will take the Irish title whenever I can. I want it before the year is out. I want my shot bad,” Hutchinson told Irish-Boxing.com.
“It’s fight by fight for me at the minute and I am happy to be active, but for an Irish title fight in Ireland I would be on the next flight home and ready to win.
“Pauly has what I want so, if it makes sense to fight him for the belt, I will. I have nothing against the lad but I don’t see anyone challenging him and I’m ready. It makes for a good Irish fight for Ireland. If he doesn’t want to defend it maybe he can vacate and there are other fights there for it. ”
Hutchinson was speaking following his second 2017 win, a six round outpointing of Pramool Boonpok. The Phuket-based light middle has an Bangkok April date lined up and is more than content with how things are progressing at present.
“It felt good to get a good six rounds in on Friday,” he said. “I am just finding myself and getting back to full fight fitness. I felt fresh and I just boxed and moved. I didn’t take any punishment.”
“It was great to fight in Australia and I am looking forward to coming back.”
“2017 so far has been a good. I have had a fast start and there is plenty in the pipeline.””