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Weekend Preview: Saturday November 5th

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The busiest week of the year for Irish fighters is upon us with two shows taking place in Ireland this Saturday and fans will be spoiled for choice.

At the National Stadium there will be the debut show from new outfit Red Corner Promotions. Headlining ‘Inception’ will be Ballyfermot middle Luke Keeler [10(5)-2(1)] who takes on Welshman Bradley Pryce for the BUI Celtic Warrior belt.

On the undercard, former amateur star Eric Donovan [1(0)-0] is back in action, with the Kildare super feather fighting Csaba Kovacs. Kilbarrack flyweight Lynn Harvey [1(1)-0] also has her second professional fight on the show and takes a step up to face Spaniard Mary Romero. Also facing Spanish opposition is Balbriggan welter Gerard Whitehouse [4(1)-0] who will face Sergio Abad.

Facing to-be-confirmed opposition on the show on the South Circular Road will be Belfast lightweight Joe Fitzpatrick [5(4)-0], Navan super middle Chris Blaney [3(1)-0], Wexford heavy Niall Kennedy [6(3)-0], Dublin light middle Bernard Roe [4(0)-0], and Derry light middle Connor Coyle [1(1)-0].

In Belfast there will be the Boxnation ‘Homecoming’ show at the Titanic Exhibition Centre. Topping the televised bill will be super flyweight Jamie Conlan [17(11)-0]. The Belfast Mexican hopes to defend his Commonwealth title against Tanzanian Julias Kisarawe, but visa issues for the African may lead to a change of opponent.

The fight of the night could be the light welterweight all-Irish clash between Dublin’s Sean Creagh [4(2)-0] and Belfast’s Tyrone McKenna [11(3)-0-1] over eight rounds for the Celtic Nations title. Belfast feather Marco McCullough [15(9)-3(2)] is also in an intriguing fight, facing tough Mexican Luis Lugo for the WBO Inter-Continental belt.

Phil Sutcliffe Jr [11(7)-1(0)] has a massive fight on the bill, with the Dublin light welter securing his shot at a big British rival in Prizefighter champion and two-time British title challenger Chris Jenkins.

Ballinrobe cruiser Gary Sweeney [2(2)-0] and Dublin heavy Sean Turner [8(6)-0] both face big-puching step ups on the card in the form of Pole Jarek Prusak and Croatian Ivica Perkovic respectively.

There are two debuts for Belfast men on the card with Olympic hero Paddy Barnes making his bow over six at flyweight while Steven Ward begins his pro journey at super middle.

Also featuring on the bill against to-be-confirmed opposition are upcoming Irish super featherweight title opponents James Tennyson [16(13)-2(2)] and Deco Geraghty [13(3)-1(0)], Dublin light welter Stephen Ormond [21(11)-3(2)] who makes his return from last month’s shock loss, Tipp heavy Con Sheehan [3(1)-0].

Finally there is also some Saturday action at the Middleton Arena outside of Manchester where super middle Mark Heffron [11(9)-0] takes on Hungarian Attila Tibor Nagy in what will be his first fight in over a year. Also on the card Bangor journeyman Casey Blair [3(0)-16(3)] gets the rounds in with hot prospect Sean Ben Mulligan.

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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