Paddy Barnes wants fight with two-weight world champion
Belfast flyweight Paddy Barnes [1(0)-0] would fight anyone – but there is one name in the 112lbs division that he has in mind.
The amateur legend, who boxes on the big Boxnation show at the Waterfront Hall on February 18th, fancies himself in a fight with a two-weight world champion
Barnes and Jamie Conlan were in the Boxnation studios tonight appearing on Bunce’s Boxing Hour, and the double Olympic bronze medalist was presented with the Boxing Monthly flyweight Top 10.
Asked whom he would like to fight, Barnes immediately plumped for #3 Donnie Nietes [39(22)-1(0)-4].
The Filipino 34 year old has held the WBO title at minnimumweight and light flyweight. Nietes has since moved up, and entered the WBO rankings at 112lbs last year following a win over Edgar Sosa to take the WBO Inter-Continental strap
Barnes described how “he’s a fight I would love to have this year. 100%.”
With his WBO ranking, Nietes may also offer a pathway to the big fight that the Ardonye man really wants – Zou Shiming. The Chinese boxer defeated Barnes in successive Olympic quarter finals in 2008 and 2012 before turning pro with Top Rank and winning the WBO title.
Shiming has opened up a lucrative market for Top Rank in Macau, ‘The Vegas of China,’ and Barnes wants a slice of the pie. The 29 year old wants to make the trip and argued how “It has to be in Macau. He is the new Mayweather in boxing where money is concerned.”
Photo Credit: Ricardo Guglielminotti – The Fighting Irish (@ThefIrish)
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Joe O’Neill and Gavan Casey look ahead to 2017 in episode 1 of The Irish Boxing Show
