Tyrone McKenna finally secures bout with big British name

Tyrone McKenna [14(6)-0-1] has secured that fight against a big British name that he so desperately craved.

The Lenadoon light welter has been calling out the whole division for the best part of the year and will now get his chance on the big Sky Sports show in Belfast on Saturday October 21st.

It has been announced this morning that McKenna will face Tommy Coyle [23(11)-4(2)] on the Ryan Burnett v Zhanat Zhakiyanov undercard at the SSE Odyssey Arena.

The fight will take place over ten rounds and will be one of the main TV bouts on the bill.

The Hull fighter, 28 next week, represents the biggest challenge of McKenna’s career as the rangey southpaw continues to move up through the ranks.

Coyle last year moved up to light welterweight having previously fought at lightweight. ‘Boom Boom’ holds wins over Martin Gethin, Michael Katsidis, and John Simpson, as well as his famous back-and-forth triumph against Daniel Brizuela. His defeats have come against strong domestic rivals Luke Campbell, Gary Sykes, McKenna’s former stablemate Derry Mathews, and a British title challenge against Tyrone Nurse.

The pair will be familiar with each other having sparred together head of Coyle’s clash with Campbell.

While Coyle has come up in weight, McKenna last year came down from welterweight. The MTK fighter would then win and defend the BUI Celtic title against Dubliners Sean Creagh and Jake Hanney respectively.

While the title status of the bout is currently unconfirmed, it would look likely to be a British title eliminator at the very least.

27 year old McKenna remains on the Ginley Promotions bill at the Devenish Complex on September 16th, where he headlines alongside Derry super bantam Tyrone McCullagh.

The second fight announced for the IBF-WBA bantamweight world title unification undercard, McKenna-Coyle joins the Irish lightweight title fight between Paul Hyland Jr and Stephen Ormond on the bill with more to be confirmed at the first official press conference tomorrow at the Europa Hotel in Belfast.