Haughian Sees Past Witter To A Crack At Lynes Or Gavin

By Paddy Appleton

It could be easy to forget about Armagh’s Stephen Haughian. Things have been tough for the Lurgan fighter since his huge clash with Junior Witter fell through last September.

Haughian was all set for a crack at Witter on the undercard of Tyson Fury’s Belfast clash with Nicolai Firtha until he sustained a neck injury in training just a week before the fight.

‘The Witter fight falling through was gutting to say the least. To train for 2 months and for it to fall through on me the last week was terrible.

“Sometimes things happen for a reason and besides the injury another couple of things weren’t right, so I’m not going to dwell on it too long and I’m looking forward to putting the disappointment behind me.”

Times have been tough since, the Witter fight could have been the springboard to bigger things, but the injury put paid to that.

Stephen has been keeping himself busy though with his own exercise classes and he feels that to dwell on what could have been will do him no favours at all.

“Since then I have just been doing training and running fitness sessions in schools as a way to make a living. If you don’t get a fight you don’t get paid, so at least by running fitness classes I am making a living and keeping myself in shape also.

“I’m not really worried about the Witter fight, as I think he is on the verge of retiring. He doesn’t hold a title and is therefore of no real benefit to me.”

Interesting words from Haughian and when we asked him who he had in mind next we got even better responses.

“I would like to get a crack at Colin Lynes for the British title or Frankie Gavin. I would put my title on the line for that one.”

A fight with Lynes would be a terrific prospect for Haughian and fans alike, but his thoughts on having a crack at Frankie Gavin would also leave fans drooling with anticipation.

Stephen Haughian wants the fights that the fans want and hopefully his promoters see eye to eye with him on that, however he confirmed to us that nothing is set in stone yet and such fights are pure speculation.

Haughian had his dream fight cruelly snatched from him by fate last September, but it could be a blessing in disguise as the proficient Irishman looks forward to bringing the best fights available to his fans in the near future, and that can only be a good thing.