Close to Canelo – Returning Padraig McCrory Was One Win Away From Massive Fight
Padraig McCrory wants to get back to that Canelo kind of level.
The Belfast super middleweight climbed to within one win of a life-altering fight with one of the biggest names in the sport.
If he’d have defeated Edgar Berlanga in February ‘The Hammer’ would have got a shot at Pound for Pound star and Future Hall of Famer Sual Canelo Alvarez.
The chance to fight the Mexican may be gone for good now but the IBO title winner has set his sights on a seat at the 168lbs top table.
To get back into the big fight reckoning the 36-year-old knows he needs a return to winning ways in Belfast on Friday night.
“It’s a must win,” McCrory says of his fight with Leonard Carrillo
“He is probably thinking the same but after this, I want to get back to the top level. I was one win away from landing the biggest fight in the division and that’s where I want to be. I want to be fighting the top guys and that doesn’t happen if I don’t win on November 1 and that’s the main focus at the minutes.”
McCrory is favoured to defeat the Spanish-based Columbian but is adamant there is no room for complacency when it comes to a hungry puncher.
“He is a South American and anytime you hear South American you know what you are going to get. He also has in and around a 95% knockout ratio, 17 wins, 16 knockouts. He’ll be coming here to cause an upset and it’s up to me to stop that happening,” he adds before discussing his excitement at topping a Belfast bill.
“I’m excited to get back, especially in Belfast, the City where I built my career and it’s where I’m from.”
