Tyrone McKenna wants to complete hat-trick of all-Irish wins against Sutcliffe or Wilton

Tyrone McKenna [13(5)-0-1] is willing to try and make it three straight all-Irish wins and says he would face Phil Sutcliffe Jr or Matt Wilton for the Irish light welterweight title.

McKenna made it back to back stoppage victories in another exciting Belfast v Dublin clash, following up his defeat of Sean Creagh with a stoppage Jake Hanney stoppage – and it seems he has gotten a real taste for the domestic dust ups.

The derby clashes have really allowed to stylish, accurate, and long levered Lenadoon man to show his class while significantly increasing his profile and allowing him to pick up the BUI Celtic title along the way.

The incisive southpaw is keen on another all Irish fight and would like an Irish title shot and claims he is willing to fight MTK stable mate Sutcliffe [13(8)-1(0)]. However ‘Succo,’ who himself registered a stoppage win on the same ‘Belfast Boys Are Back’ card, has a bout for an IBF rankings title in the pipeline so that fight may not materalise.

However, McKenna put forward the name of fellow Belfast man Wilton [15(3)-0] as another possible Irish title opponent.

“I would love to step it up again now. I would love the Irish title or the British Board’s Celtic title. I’d fight anyone to be honest. I just want big fights I don’t care who it is,” McKenna said post-fight.

“Usually an Irish title was a prospect against someone who was more or less a bum, but now it means something again and it’s nice to see. If I was to challenge for an Irish title it would be against an undefeated guy. Phil Sutcliffe is there and Matt Wilton is there they are massive fights for an Irish title.”

“They are the names I want, although as I said I want anyone in a big fight. Phil has his own path I think and has a IBF title fight coming up, but I would love to fight him for it. ”

McKenna could take the ‘Dublin Destroyer’ ring moniker from Bernard Dunne, but for very different reasons after Friday’s Waterfront Hall card.

The 27 year old former Irish international broke his second successive Dublin duck egg when he beat Hanney.

The MTK fighter looked impressive, but wasn’t overjoyed with his display. McKenna claims his opponent was tougher than expected and suggested he personally made the fight harder than it should have been.

“They are going to start to hate me, beating up all the Dubliners! It was a great fight. Jake brought a lot more to the table than I thought, but I made harder work of it than I should have.”

“I was loading up and trying to take him out early, but he was tougher than I thought. I hurt him in the first and I went looking from then on.”

“Danny [Vaughan, trainer] said to me after the first relax, find your distance, and box. He told me not to get into a slug fest and to wait till it comes and that is what I did. I was hurting him more [as the fight went on] and I knew I could step in then.”

Hanney claimed immediately afterwards that the referee stepped in too early, but McKenna believes the man in the middle made the right decision.

“I don’t think he had that much left in the tank. He was just moving from corner to corner and getting hit with big shots, so I think the stoppage was right.”

Jamie Conlan joins Gavan Casey and Joe O’Neill for Episode 3 of The Irish Boxing Show:

Photo Credit: Ricardo Guglielminotti – The Fighting Irish (@ThefIrish)