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Guts and Glory – Morrissey Concerned with McGivern’s ‘Spirit’ not his ‘Beer Belly’

It’s what’s on the inside that counts warns Jamie Morrissey [3(1)-0] as he closes in on the biggest fight of his young career.

The Limerick super middleweight fights Scot Ben McGivern [3(0)-0-1]for the BUI Celtic title in Scotland on Saturday coming – and goes into the bout knowing when it comes to a title fight the most essential qualities are invisible to the eyes.

McGivern isn’t the most athletic looking of fighters, small for super middle and well padded, unlike the six-foot-plus, cut potential model that is Morrissey.

However, the Shaun Kelly trained fighter is adamant looks aren’t everything, pointing out it’s about the amount of guts in the fighter rather than the size of the fighter’s gut and claims the Scot’s spirit will play a huge part in the title fight.

“Every attribute I have says I can beat him,” Morrissey tells Irish-boxing.com.

“I’m long, I can move well on the back foot. He’s limited, he’s small, he’s 5’8, beer belly but he has a spirit that can’t be underrated.”

Morrissey believes his title rival fuels his desire off some hard times in his life – and having come some through dark days himself he knows just how powerful that can be.

“I know that he is a guy, who like myself, has been down in life. He is coming back, this is his chance to put a belt on the mantle piece and say to his son that he was a champion. He’s going to be prepared to die like I am, so it has the makings of a war. He’s a guy that has probably been up and down in life, so he’ll have a lot of life lessons and a lot of character. He has a good story, it’s just human spirit you can’t take that lightly. When you take human spirit into the equation size means nothing. History repeats itself time and time again in relation to that. You cant’ take size or age into account, it’s a fist fight anything can happen.”

The Treaty boxer challenges for the prettiest strap in Irish boxing on October 1 at Lagoon Leisure Centre, Paisley and has an American debut lined up for later in the month.

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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