Gearoid Clancy [9(2)-5(0)] claims he is ready to go into Stephen Spark’s backyard and leave with Australia light welterweight title tomorrow morning before turning his attention to the green belt.

The Australian-based Galway native fights the big punching Twoowoomba prospect in his home town at Rumours International for the vacant title but isn’t worried about a hostile atmosphere.

In fact the, Oughterard BC graduate is relishing the challenge and the chance to become champion in a fight that pits the New South Wales champion against the Queensland champion and is aiming for the Irish title afterwards..

The 33-year-old, who is trained by Tony Del Vecchio at Bondai Boxing Club in Sydney, described how “a hostile environment is nothing new to me as I have always considered myself the away boxer even when boxing out of Sydney.”

“Rhe home-based boxer will always have the crowd behind them and I relish the opportunity of going into another boxer’s back yard and coming out the other side the winner.”

Clancy goes into the clash on the back of a New South Wales title win over Sam Williams which saw him become a two-weight provincial titlist and now the 33-year-old gets the chance to upgrade to national champion. 

While he will be an underdog tomorrow, Clancy is confident he can overcome Sparks [5(5)-1(0)] and take the title. Indeed, ‘The Galway Assassin’ sees flaws in his young opponent.

He noted how “there’s no denying Steve is a step up from my last opponent but he won’t be bringing anything I haven’t seen before. He’ll come out and rush at me looking for the knockout. That’s when we’ll catch him.”

“He makes mistakes when he plays to the crowd and he’s at home in this title fight so he’ll play to the crowd again. He tries to impress his fans and that’s when I’ll be catching him.”

“I certainly don’t plan on letting him bully me. I won’t be retreating on the back foot. I’ll meet fire with fire but while I’m doing that, I plan to outsmart him.”

The game puncher has had a strong camp which included spars with Carl Frampton’s August 18th opponent Luke Jackson and he is looking to kick on following a succession of defeats at lightweight.

In good shape, Clancy outlined how “I think I’m improving every fight. Certainly in the last two, I’ve got better because I moved to super-lightweight and am therefore feeling a lot stronger. There’s a lot better to come from me now.”

“I always wanted to fight for the Australian title and here’s my chance. I always to fight for the Irish title too so hopefully that’s another target I can hit,” added the fighter who once saw a proposed Irish title fight versus Paul Hyland Jr fall through.