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Red Letter Warning – Owen O’Neill Predicts he’ll win ‘Battle of the Gingers’ by KNOCKOUT

Owen O’Neill [8-0] believes he could win a feisty and firey ‘battle of the gingers’ via stoppage.

‘Triple O’ takes on Martin Quinn [3(1)-2(0)] on the undercard of Eric Donovan’s EU title fight at the Europa Hotel on September 24 and predicts he could end the red hot battle of the redheads in explosive fashion.

‘The Operator’ admits the Dubliner represents his toughest test to date, noting he has more domestic experience and always comes ready to battle.

He predicts the Crumlin BC graduate will match him on the balls front but believes he will shade the technical side of the fight – and thus is confident he can punish Quinn’s aggression to secure a first career stoppage.

“We are both game fighters, we both have balls of steel but I think I could be a bit more technical than him and that’s what wins it for me. I think there could be a good chance I could get my first stoppage,” he tells Irish-boxing.com.

Quinn, who hasn’t fought in over the year, has been vocal about how determined he is to register an away corner win. The Dublin side of the fight has also teamed up with Pete Taylor and has been sparring Gary Cully and the likes all in the build-up to a bout that will play out in front of the TG4 cameras.

All of which is music to O’Neill’s ears. The Belfast fighter has wanted to serve his loyal following a fight of such note for some time now and delights in the fact he has signed for scrap with barnburner potential. He also points out that Quinn’s eagerness feeds into his own motivation.

“Happy days, he’s up for it. He’s game and he thinks he is going to win. It makes me eager and more motivated,” he adds before revealing he has little interest in his rival’s training situation.

“I don’t care if he is training in Pete Taylor’s gym, I’ve a cracking stable myself. I’m training with Poddy McCrary, Conor Quinn, Colm Murphy, I’ve trained with Lewis Crocker and sparred with Lewis. I’ve had cracking spars with people who are 10 times better than me and Marty, so I’m highly confident.”

Unlike O’Neill, Quinn has all Irish experience having defeated Francy Luzoho on a TG4 card and losing to Karl Kelly in a highly entertaining bout.

‘Mighty’ believes that experience will prove key in the fight but the Dee Walsh trained fighter remains confident nonetheless.

“He has had 50-50 fights, so he’s probably right he has had the harder fights but I’m putting the work in in the gym and I’m sparring some cracking boxers. I’m glad he’s saying that because it’s going to be a cracking scrap. I’m highly confident I win. Bring it on.”

Jonny Stapleton

Irish-boxing.com contributor for 15 years and editor for the past decade. Have been covering boxing for over 16 years and writing about sports for a living for over 20 years. Former Assistant Sports editor for the Gazette News Paper Group and former Tallaght Voice Sports Editor. Have had work published in publications around the world when working as a freelance journalist. Also co-founder of Junior Sports Media and Leinster Rugby PRO of the Year winner. email: editoririshboxing@gmail.com

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