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Paul Hyland Jr secures Sky Sports date

Belfast lightweight Paul Hyland Jr [14(5)-0] will get to show off his all-action style in front of the Sky Sports cameras next month.

The unbeaten crowd-pleaser has been added to an upcoming Matchroom show in what looks to be a really positive move for his career.

The Lagmore scrapper will box on the first installment of the Matchroom NXTGEN series on Friday March 17th at the York Hall in London. Here Hyland will face a to-be-confirmed opponent.

The series is intended to help bleed through fresh new talent for Matchroom in competitive fights with exposure rather than on untelevised undercards.

The shows will be streamed live on Facebook, with the three headline fights being aired live on Sky Sports 1.

In the first outing, Reece Bellotti will face Dai Davies and Alan Higgins will defend his BBBoC Southern Area title against Craig Richards, while there are also appearances for Isaac Chamberlain, Danny Dignum, Jake Ball, and Felix Cash.

The Mark Dunlop-managed Hyland has eyes on the British title, currently held by Matchroom’s Scott Cardle, and a win next month will see him continue to close in on this shot.

In his most recent outing, at the start of this month, ‘Hylo’ blew away overmatched Hungarian Giovanni Gallovich inside a minute at the Europa Hotel.

Hyland has won praise over the past few years with exciting wins over strong journeymen such as Virgile Degonzaga and Bence Molnar.

Ready to be pushed to the next level, the 26 year old looked set to fight for the Irish title in his most recent fight, only for the bout to fall through. This saw his switch to the British Boxing Board of Control and target the Lonsdale belt. A shot at champion Cardle seems unlikely considering the timeframe, with the Liverpudlian requiring just one more defence, which will come in April, to claim the belt outright.

Starting on St Patrick’s Day, the Ulsterman will be hoping to position himself well for a crack at the belt should Cardle lose or vacate.

Photo Credit: Ricardo Guglielminotti – The Fighting Irish (@ThefIrish)

Eric Donovan joins Gavan Casey and Joe O’Neill on Episode 2 of the Irish Boxing Show:

Joe O'Neill

Reporting on Irish boxing the past five years. Work has appeared on irish-boxing.com, Boxing News, the42.ie, and local and national media. Provide live ringside updates, occasional interviews, and special features on the future of Irish boxing. email: joneill6@tcd.ie

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