Buckley bites back – laughs off trash talk from “aul lad” McDonald

If Regan Buckley [1(0)-0] is a “baby,” Carl McDonald [2(0)-0] is an “aul lad.”

The pair go head-to-head in a super bantamweight six rounder on the ‘Celtic Clash 3: Building Champions’ card at the National Stadium on Saturday September 9th.

While both are novice pros, there certainly is an interesting age dynamic between the two 2015 Intermediate champions.

20 year old Buckley came in for some verbal fire from his older Tallaght opponent recently, but the Bray boxer has bitten back hard.

28 year old Dubliner McDonald has promised to put a beating on the Wicklow youngster, reasoning that “I’m getting called out by a baby, so I’ve to hurt him and that’s that.”

Looking to set the record straight, Buckley said “I want to clear something up that Carl said in his last interview, that we were calling him out – we never called him out, we were offered the fight by you [Boxing Ireland Promotions]”

“We said that we’d do it and meet in the middle at 53.5kg [bantamweight] to which they then said they wouldn’t go down any lower than 55kg [super bantamweight] – so we moved up and we took the fight.”

While it is a big weight jump for a natural flyweight, Buckley has no fears and explained that “I’m taking the fight because I’m not afraid to fight anybody – and I wouldn’t have taken the fight if I hadn’t known I was going to win.”

“I don’t think it’s a mad fight to take. It’s another fight. A lot of lads are protecting their unbeaten records where I’m more about getting out, getting exciting fights, and building up Irish boxing – and I believe I have the skills to win these fights as well”

“I’m very confident. It [camp] going great, it’s going better than expected, actually, hitting new PBs all the time.”

Mocking the jabs of his Jobstown opponent, Buckley noted how “you get these aul lads who try to drag you down to the gutter with the trash talk – just to try get people to watch them.”

“I’m not really about that, I’ll do my talking in the ring on September 9th and that’s when I’ll show everybody what I’m about.”

“I haven’t really watched much of him to be honest. I know he’s won the Intermediates, but not much more.”

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