Conor McGregor’s ‘sparring partner’ Tiernan Bradley ready to become notorious in his own right

 Tiernan Bradley is smart enough to understand his Conor McGregor connection is good for business, but is adamant he wants to become notorious in his own right.

Bradley accepts the fact he was the UFC stars chief sparring partner for his Floyd Mayweather clash draws attention.

The Steven O’Rourke trained fighter similarly understands he can use that extra focus to his benefit.

The link creates a hype that ensures his debut in Poland tomorrow will generate above average interest – and the older brother of active pro Calum plans to impress all those that tune into see what the fuss is about.

“Of course it has,” he admits when asked if the extra column inches surrounding his debut has anything to do with his McGregor link.

“Conor is a massive superstar in combat sports and he’s a big personality, so anyone around him brings with them his following.

“It doesn’t bother me at all, I may be sick of being asked the same question over and over about sparring and Paulie Malignaggi but I’m not a thick fella I just say what happened,” he adds before revealing he wants to forge a reputation as a good prospect more than anything else.

“I think I’m a bit of a mystery to a lot of the media buffs as everybody has heard of me, but nobody has seen me fight in a while. Now it’s time to turn the doubters into believers.

“This is what I’m going out to prove to everyone that I can make a career out of professional boxing and gain a lot of fans along the way.

I want to entertain and I’ve learnt from one of the best so I can’t wait to get my debut out of the way and start building from there.”

Bradley doesn’t seem to mind the spotlight at all. Indeed, he is planning to increase the hype with a standout debut performance in Walcz, Poland on Saturday.

The stylist and Commonwealth Youth medal winner isn’t looking to bank rounds or build experience he wants and eye catching stoppage.

“I definitely want to increase the hype. I’m not looking to hang around till the fourth to stop him. I want to stop him in the first and get everyone talking you don’t get paid for overtime.”

Bradley’s personal levels of excitement are higher than those awaiting his debut.

He has been in the gym since June waiting to trade leather and can’t wait to let his hands go.

“Excitement is through the roof, can’t wait to get into the ring, it’s been such a long time coming and can’t believe I’ll be fighting tomorrow night!

“I’ve been training flat out since June as I was supposed to have my debut at the beginning of September but because of Covid that was cancelled. I was then lucky enough to get the October 10th date so I’ve been training hard for at least 16 weeks.”

Bradley makes his debut in strange times and in a relatively strange place.

He travels to Poland with six other Irish fighters, five of which are stablemates.

Speaking on the scenario he added: “I think everybody is just happy to get a fight in this climate. There are no shows happening at home, so we are very lucky to have Conor Slater looking after us and getting us these fights.

“The O’Rourke’s team are all feeling good and we will be cheering each other on from ringside whenever we aren’t fighting.”