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Hail Cesar – ‘Journeyman’ Julio wants more titles following upset win

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Julio Cesar [3(1)-4(3)] believes he has gone from perceived journeyman to genuine title contender after his stoppage win on Celtic Clash 9 last Saturday night.

The Angolan-born Belfast based super middleweight stopped Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Seam McGlinchey at the Devenish to make it back to back wins for the first time in his career.

There was chaos following the win in West Belfast for a number of reasons. Cesar would leap completely out of the ring in joy before arguments galore after picky BBBoC officials wouldn’t allow the Celtic Nations belt be presented in the ring.

All the while, Team McGlinchy were upset claiming a late shot landed in the round prior to the stoppage was the catalyst for the victory.

However, nothing could detract from the Gerard McManus-trained Cesar’s delight. To say he celebrated like he had just unified an entire division would be doing his immediate reaction to victory a disservice and speaking after he was still full of joy.

“It means everything,” he told Irish-Boxing.com after the win.

“I just won a belt after all the work I have done. I had a couple of fights as a journeyman as I am sure you seen, but I done well despite the fact I wasn’t fit for most of them. Now I have a big win.”

“I don’t know what the confusion was about the title, but for me I just won the Celtic title,” he adds before revealing a change in mentality ahead of his most recent bout.

“I was training to win this fight and that is how I will approach the fights from now on. I was just training anywhere before. I was going from gym to gym and then I got offered the chance to work with Gerard.”

“I started to work down there and I was sparring [Lewis] Crocker and [Conrad] Cummings and those guys and they were impressed with me. I have sparred Martin Murray before he fought [Genady] Golovkin and Rocky Fielding before he fought Canelo, so I have experience, but this is where things came together for me. I got a fight straight away won it and now I just won a title with a win over a good fighter.”

The title won wasn’t the BUI or BBBofC Celtic strap, rather a belt that was first introduced for the original Celtic Clash. It doesn’t enhance your ranking or move you towards the Irish strap like the BUI Celtic title, but Cesar argues victory over a domestic rival should put him in title contention regardless. In fact he is adamant he is in the title mix now.

“That win puts me in line for titles. I want titles now. I wouldn’t mind the Commonwealth, but maybe the Irish. I would love the Irish and it’s probably the most likely one I could get.”

Cesar didn’t discuss the punch after the break – a shot that saw him docked a point – but did point out he felt McGlinchey wilted as the fight wore on.

“I knew I was close to stopping him. You could see from the rounds before he was a bit all over the place. I thought anybody shot was going to do damage. I could see in his eyes they were hurting him and I knew if I landed clean I’d stop him – and that is what happened.”

Photo CreditRicardo Guglielminotti – The Fighting Irish (@ThefIrish)

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Jonny Stapleton

Irish-boxing.com contributor for 15 years and editor for the past decade. Have been covering boxing for over 16 years and writing about sports for a living for over 20 years. Former Assistant Sports editor for the Gazette News Paper Group and former Tallaght Voice Sports Editor. Have had work published in publications around the world when working as a freelance journalist. Also co-founder of Junior Sports Media and Leinster Rugby PRO of the Year winner. email: editoririshboxing@gmail.com

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