January date for Magee?
17 November 2010 – Jonny Stapleton
Brian Magee will be World champion by the end of January 2011 according to his manager Pat Magee.
Talks between the WBA mandatory challenger and reigning champion Dimitri Sartisons camps are running smoothly and both have agreed to stage the super middleweight world title contest on a yet to be announced date in late January.
As of yet a venue has to be determined, but the depending on which proves the most lucrative the clash will go ahead in either Hamburg or Belfast.
Regardless of what city provides the fight backdrop the veteran pugilist, who shocked Europe and opponent Mads Larsen by claiming the EBU title in Denmark last January, is just 10 weeks and 12 rounds away from challenging for a coveted world strap.
We have agreed the World title fight will go ahead at the end of January, Pat Magee told the Mirror. We are waiting to confirm the venue. Talks are amicable and going well it’s just a case of talking to the respective TV companies and seeing what kind of budgets are available. We just need to find out weather Hamburg or Belfast makes more sense. Either way Ireland will have a new World champion by they end of January. Brian will challenge for the title and I fancy him against Sartison regardless of venue. Obviously we would be a bit more confident if it was in Belfast.
Meanwhile Carl Frampton is preparing for the biggest fight of his fledgling career by sparring the fighter who will challenge Martin Lindsay for his British featherweight title, John Simpson.
The emerging talent faces the durable Gavin Reid for the Celtic Title on December 3 and is in Scotland with stable mate Troy Jones readying himself for his first title bout.
The reason we came over is because this is the best sparring around, explained promoter Barry McGuigan. Two quality fighters like Simpson and Ricky Burns in the same gym means great workouts for our lads, it’s invaluable experience for them.Burns and Simpson work at an intense pace which suits Carl and Troy, after a week of hard work we are moving down to London for more sparring.