Spike sparring has Bernard Roe set up for step up
After waiting over a year between fight number four and fight number five, Bernard Roe is now straight back in for for a step-up in his sixth contest.
After scoring a maiden knockout victory in September, Dubliner Roe steps up to six rounds this Saturday night.
The Sheriff Street star boxes on the Celtic Clash 4 bill at the National Stadium, the venue for his past two fights, and will face veteran English journeyman Willie Warburton.
Following a spell where he was blighted by niggling injuries and a lack of opportunities, Roe [5(1)-0] is finally starting to gain some speed.
“I’m building momentum, it feels good,” he told Irish-Boxing.com before reflecting on his quick turnaround since Celtic Clash 3.
“I took a week or two off, but I was in and out of the gym, keeping my head in. Craig [O’Brien] was fighting a few weeks after me so I was helping him sparring.”
“I’d been out for a while. It’s better rolling one camp into the other, it’s a nice change.”
The Celtic Warriors Gym in Corduff is buzzing at the minute, and Roe is taking a lot from his regular sparring sessions with the likes of Spike O’Sullivan – who fights Antoine Douglas in Canada next month.
Noting the high standard in Paschal Collins’s camp, Roe explained how “it’s good when you’re in the gym and you have Spike training for a Golden Boy show in Boston and now he’s on the Saunders and Lemieux undercard.”
“It creates a bit of a buzz. We’re sparring twice a week, every week, it gives me great confidence.”
In Warburton [24(4)-126(2)-9], Roe faces a tricky opponent who can ‘turn it on’ in the blink of an eye, and he described how “it’s a tough opponent, durable and slippery.”
“It’s my first six rounder, I’m stepping up and looking forward to it.”
One thing that Roe won’t be guilty of in the fight is loading up and looking for the stoppage.
Since demolishing Radoslav Mitev in September, the monkey is off his back so to speak, and he recalled how “my first couple of fights, I had people down and thought they could have been stopped, but they got the benefit of the doubt.”
“I was a bit immature, swinging, getting a bit too excited so I was happy to get a stoppage to settle me down.”
Photo Credit: Ricardo Guglielminotti – The Fighting Irish
