‘Hasn’t Got the Minerals’ – British Title Hopeful John Cooney Will Hunt Down Champion After BBC Win
John Cooney believes he will be hunting Reece Bellotti come February 15.
The Galway super featherweight has set his sights on the British title and feels it will be in the possession of the reigning champ before the month is done.
The Stephen O’Rourke-trained entertainer feels both he and the Brit will win their February bouts and end up on a collision course.
Cooney fights Nathan Howells on the first Irish card of 2025 this weekend, providing chief support to Colm Murphy on BBC’s return to boxing.
Two weeks later Bellotti defends his British and Commonwealth titles against Michael Gomez Jr and Cooney is backing the champion to retain.
“Obviously, I’ve got my fight to deal with first,” he tells Irish-boxing.com.
” I’ll get business done against Nathan Howells. I have to win that fight before any talk of any other fight. I’m fully focused on that one, but I know I’m more than capable of winning in great fashion.
Then we look to February the 15th. I’ll be watching with a keen eye and I want the winner.”
The BBBofC Celtic title winner is confident he knows who the winner will be.
“It’s a good fight,” he adds.
“I have Reece Bellotti winning it.”
The Mark Dunlop-mentored fighter initially had Gomez as favourite but changed his mind after the Manchester native pulled out at the last second of a previously scheduled clash with the title holder.
“I thought maybe Gomez would have won it before seeing the antics and seeing his bottle go. I don’t think he’s got the minerals. I think he’s kind of bottled it. I think once you bottle it, bottle it once, you’ll bottle it twice. So I think Reese Belotti will get that job done. And look, if Reese Belotti beats him, I look forward to that fight. If it’s Gomez, it’s Gomez. I really, really, really don’t mind fighting either, you know. I think both fights for me would be good fights, to be honest.”
