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Roommates to Rivals but no bad blood for Marco McCullough and Declan Geraghty

Next weekend the Ulster Hall will play host to a crossroads fight but the pressure surrounding the contest won’t make either combatant descend into trash talk.

Belfast’s Marco McCullough [21(11)-4(3)] and Dubliner Declan Geraghty [19(4)-3(2)] will do battle over ten rounds in the chief support to Ryan Burnett’s comeback and the pair are more than familiar with each other.

Irish boxing is a small community but Geraghty and McCullough are closer than most having been team- and even roommates back when they were amateurs.

With this in mind, while a loss for either could spell the end of their mid to top level ambitions, the high stakes fight will not turn into a grudge match.

McCullough, an EU Junior bronze medallist, described how “I know Deco very well.”

“We’ve never actually sparred though because during our amateur days, he was a bit smaller and lighter than me.

“We trained together on the High Performance Team and went on several trips together. We even shared a room on one trip.

The ten-round contest is for the IBF European title – which most likely won’t provide the winner a Top 15 ranking and will actually take them out of the running for the respected EBU European belt.

However, it is a fight of great importance for both regardless.

Geragthy, an EU Senior silver medallist, added that “I’d say myself and Marco have been friends… at least acquaintances! I do remember rooming with him on the Irish team.”

“Marco is a lovely bloke and I’ve got a bad work to say about him. I’ll happily go for a drink with him after the fight. This is just business.”

dpg

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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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