“It’s just part of the boxing game” – Sutcliffe taking heavy late replacement in his stride

Phil Sutcliffe Jr [12(7)-1(0)] has a chunky challenge tomorrow night, but he is confident that this fight will not derail his big date in Leeds against Josh Leather this coming May.

The Crumlin light welter fights on the Belfast BoxNation bill at the Waterfront Hall tomorrow [Friday March 10th] in what has become essentially a warm-up fight for his May 13th clash with unbeaten Englishman Leather.

An obvious step down from his last fight against Chris Jenkins, the bout is more of an opportunity to tick over ahead of the IBF Inter-Continental title clash, however his opponent does present a sizeable obstacles to overcome

Sutcliffe will box Nicaraguan Miguel Aguilar [11(5)-31(7)-1] on Jamie Conlan undercard tomorrow, a fighter that just two weeks ago was facing the much larger Connor Coyle in Dublin.

Indeed there were some heated exchanges between the two camps today at the weigh-in with Aguilar, a late replacement for Nelson Altamirano, coming in around two pounds over the agreed weight of 146lbs.

The issue was eventually resolved and the six rounder will go ahead tomorrow, and Sutcliffe is expecting a hardy foe

The Dubliner told Irish-Boxing,com that “He fought at middleweight last time and he looks tough enough,” before joking that “Coyle couldn’t stop him at middleweight so I’ll be putting in a bit of a statement!”

The purpose of the fight has been changed for Sutcliffe too. The postponement of the card from February 18th due to illness to Conlan has seen ‘Succo’ go from having a big bout with an English boxer to having a tool-sharpening exercise with Aguilar.

Sutcliffe explained that “we were meant to have it three weeks ago, and it was meant to be a bigger fight, an eight or ten rounder, against Lee Gillespie. We were all ready for that and then the fight changed.”

“We had a couple of opponents who were changed, one pulled out, this is a kind of a warm -up thing but it’s a good warm-up six rounds.”

“It’s not frustrating, it’s just part of the boxing game.”

Sutcliffe is expected to win, and to win handily tomorrow. While the inability to put another noticeable name on his record seems a shame, the 27 year old still has another opportunity to build his reputation ahead of the clash with Leather – especially considering BoxNation’s recent link-up with eir Sport.

Tickets are available through the Waterfront Hall (CLICK HERE) or through the boxers themselves (which is the avenue we would recommend).

Photo Credit: Ricardo Guglielminotti – The Fighting Irish (@ThefIrish)

Jamie Conlan joins Gavan Casey and Joe O’Neill for Episode 3 of The Irish Boxing Show: