James Tennyson ready to leave his mark on boxing following character-building climb

We’ve seen the soles of his boxing boots during tricky times in the ring for James Tennyson [22(18)-2(2)] but the ultimate bounce back kid claims going to stamp his way into the consciousness of fight fans around the world tonight.

A world title fight never looked likely when Tenny was stopped by Latvian journeyman Pavels Senkovs five years ago and a possible tilt certainly looked in jeopardy earlier this year when he was sent to the canvas by a Martin J Ward body shot during their European title fight.

However, the two-time Irish champion and recent European and Commonwealth title winner dusted himself off to eventually secure big fights after the Senkovs reverse and got off the canvas to stop the previously undefeated Ward in a spectacular Sky Box Office clash.

The 25-year=old now finds himself in Boston with a chance to become Ireland’s 22nd world champion tonight and in the process become a global name in the sport.

Reigning IBF super featherweight titleholder Tevin Farmer [26(5)-4(2)-1] awaits and the MHD fighter claims he is ready leave some marks on the world champ and leave and make his mark on the divsion.

“I’m very excited. We’ve been working hard, I’ve been in camp for quite a lot of weeks now. Plenty of hard sparring. I’m excited to get camp wrapped up and get out there and get the show on the road,” Tennyson told BBC Sport NI.

“I want to put my name out there and really stamp my mark on world boxing,” he added with confidence before discussing how overcoming the mini setback in the Ward fight has given him extra confidence and character.

“It definitely built me up as a character. I climbed off the canvas and gave a good account of myself. It really put my name out there. It was an exciting fight and that win really got me to where I am today.”

Tennyson’s coach, Tony Dunlop, has stressed that his fighter may have to deal with with some frustration early in his world title fight.

Farmer is tricky and slick and it may be some time before Teeny can bring power that has seen him stop the likes of Declan Geraghty and Ward into play.

The soon-to-be father seems to agree, pointing out it won’t be the easiest of fights but still remains adamant he will win.

“He’s a tricky customer,” admitted ‘The Assassin’. “Good on his feet and quick-moving. It’s not going to be an easy night’s work.”

“We’ve both been down, we’ve both had our losses, a lot of speedbumps along the way.”

“Now we’re here and fighting each other for the world championship. I’m going to take that world championship back to Belfast.”