Frustrating but not wasted – Gary Cully believes he returns from injury a better fighter

Gary Cully’s time out of the ring has proved frustrating but he points out it certainly hasn’t been wasted.

Cully [8(4)-0] suffered a strange hand injury when beating Brayan Mairena back in March and has seen potentially break through fights fall through in the meantime.

During the that period, the keen to kick on Kildare man couldn’t punch, but rather than waste the six months out, Cully’s approach has been to work on the more cerebral aspects of the sport.

The six foot plus southpaw lightweight tried to put his time out to good use and he believes the practices put in place have improved him as a fighter.

“Not being able to punch for six months was obviously frustrating because it’s what I usually every day, but we ended up using the time wisely by working on other things,” said the Pete Taylor trained fighter.

“You can make a negative out of these situations and sit and dwell on it or you can make a positive. We made a positive and I think I’ve actually improved as a fighter while I’ve been out.

“I could have sat at home, eaten badly, gone out at the weekends and put on some weight. Then it would have been a negative. Instead, I’ve actually got stronger and fitter,” he adds before revealing he even went as far as to study potential future opponents.

“We were clever. We took a step back and did some studying. We looked at who else is at the weight and what we want from next year.”

The 23-year-old returns to action in facing Rafal Grabowski [4(1)-1-1] on Friday on the sold-out #MTKFightNight at Belfast’s Ulster Hall – live on ESPN+ in association with Top Rank and on iFL TV worldwide – and points out he returns hungry to make an impression.

“I was originally meant to fight again in June but I’d been too eager to get back and punched before I should have, which set the process back. It wasn’t ideal but all it’s done is make me more hungry having to watch big shows I want to be part of.”

Joining Cully vs. Grabowski on a stellar night of boxing in the historic Belfast venue is Jay Harris vs. Paddy Barnes, Marco McCullough vs. Viorel Simion, Sean McComb vs. Emiliano Dominguez, elite Irish debutants Paddy Donovan and Pierce O’Leary and many more.

Kildare boxing proudly brought to you by Liffey Crane Hire.