Darragh Foley reveals that he never received Phil Sutcliffe Jr fight offer
Darragh Foley [15(8)-2(0)-1] has strongly denied that he received an offer to face Phil Sutcliffe Jr in an all-Dublin battle of the light welterweight punchers.
Following his comeback win on Friday night in Belfast, Crumlin’s Sutcliffe [15(9)-2(1)] revealed that he accepted a fight with Foley 10 weeks ago but nothing came of it – something he understood considering his current career position.
READ: Phil Sutcliffe accepted comeback fight versus Darragh Foley
The Sydney-based Foley fights this Friday night versus Akeem Ennis-Brown [11(1)-0] for the IBF European title in London at the York Hall, stepping in to replace Johnny Coyle in the BoxNation headliner on five weeks notice.
A bout with Sutcliffe, however, was never presented to him and the Blanchardstown fighter has responded to ‘Succo’s’ claims on social media, outlining how he never received an offer and stressing that he is not chasing the fight.
Foley said that “I just want to clarify, I got sent an article saying that I turned down a fight with Phil Sutcliffe, that he was offered the fight but when it got back to me I said ‘no’.”
“That’s untrue, bullshit, I was never offered the fight,” said the southpaw in the firmest possible terms before outlining how it’s a fight that does not appeal to him on both moral and career grounds.
Foley called for a brawl with Sutcliffe back in 2016 but since then the former top amateur has lost to Josh Leather and been involved in a road traffic accident that left him “lucky to be alive.”
READ: Darragh Foley calls out Phil Sutcliffe (2016)
‘Super Foley’ noted how “I don’t go looking for a fights against people coming off a loss and life threating accidents. That’s not me, that’s not what I’m about.”
“I’m fighting a world-ranked undefeated guy next, I think you can all make your own mind up.”
Foley and Sutcliffe are both under the same management umbrella but have different individual managers.
29-year-old Sutcliffe got back to winning ways at the weekend with a four-round points win over Nicaraguan journeyman Eligos Palacios and will be chasing big fights, potentially with Foley, in 2019.
Foley is currently making a move into the scene on this side of the world following big success Down Under. Now training in Boston, the charismatic Fingal fighter was involved in an unfortunate technical draw on his UK debut in August versus Chris Jenkins.
The 30-year-old made a big impression in the build-up to this fight and will be looking to make a statement on Friday versus ‘Riiddy’ Brown.
