Declan Geraghty hoping Celtic title win will “tempt” Carroll and Tennyson to rematch him

Declan Geraghty [14(4)-2(1)] plans to win the titles that will lure both Jono Carroll and James Tennyson to rematch him.

‘Pretty Boy’ goes straight into another title fight having lost to James Tennyson in an entertaining high-level Irish super featherweight title fight in March.

The southpaw slickster drops a weight to fight Scotsman Michael Roberts Jr [19(1)-0-1] over ten rounds on an MTK Scotland show at the Paisley Lagoon Leisure Centre on Saturday July 1st for the BBBoC Celtic featherweight title.

The Dub claims he had no qualms about jumping straight back in against an undefeated puncher and competing at title level so soon. Indeed, he sees it as a chance to start a title journey that will ensure he gets rematches with his defeaters Carroll and Tennyson.

Geraghty is adamant his confidence hasn’t been affected by either reverse boldly claiming he was ‘punching the head off’ both before the Tennyson fight was stopped and he was disqualified against Carroll.

“I asked then and there for the Tennyson rematch,” he told Irish-Boxing.com.

“No disrespect to the Tennyson, he is a good lad and a good fighter. He won fair and square but I was boxing the head off him.”

“He is a lovely fella and there is no bad blood, but I got caught with two shots. I won every round bar the second when I was dropped. I was winning the sixth too, but it got stopped. I still don’t think it should have been stopped. My head was clear and I was punching back.”

Outlining his rematch reasoning, Geraghty stated that “it’s him [Tennyson] and Jono I want. So I need to get the belts to tempt them to fight me.”

“The reason I want those rematches is that I outboxed both of them. I took the defeats and I took them on the chin, but I am confident I can beat both. If you look at the two fights I was punching the head off them.”

“If I thought I wasn’t good enough I wouldn’t be in this sport. Every opponent I have faced I am better than. I proved that, even in the two loses. I shouldn’t have been disqualified in the Jono fight and the stoppage should never have happened in the Tenny fight.”

“If you look at it before the stoppage I nod at the ref and I go straight in to fight him. The bottom line is they are defeats on my record and to avenge them I have to get the titles to make the boys want to fight me again.”

In terms of learning from the loss to the big punching Tennyson boxer, who fights Ben Jones on the Matchroom card in Belfast this Saturday, Geraghty jokes how “I’ve learned to keep my chin down!”

In seriousness he added that “there were shots I was throwing that I should never have being throwing. That’s how l got caught, I was told not to throw them but sometimes it’s easier said than done.”

“I’ll never really be over a loss, I will always want to prove to myself I’m better than these lads by coming back and beating them.”

If his words above don’t convince you of Geraghty’s confidence, he went on to reaffirm the reverses haven’t dented his self belief.

He claims a lapse in concentration cost him an Irish title win and even admits he got caught by a punch he knew to expect going into the clash.

“My confidence might have been rocked if I was getting badly beat. I was punching rings around them. So I am very confident taking this [Roberts] fight.”

“I made two mistakes and paid for them [v Tennyson]. I got lax and the shot I got caught with was the one my Da was warning me about throughout the camp. So it’s my fault and you learn from that.”