Marco McCullough – “The brain is starting to work again”

It was a step into the unknown for Marco McCullough [16(10)-3(2)] on Saturday night in Belfast.

The Shankill featherweight faced Mexican replacement Luis Lugo in a top-of-the-bill clash at the Titanic Exhibition Centre on the Boxnation ‘Homecoming’ card and, after a second round scare, emerged victorious via a fourth round retirement.

Considering his opponent was an unknown quantity, and the bout being his first major fight under new trainer Charlie Toland, McCullough was happy with his night’s work and described how “I went into that fight not knowing anything about him, I hadn’t seen a single clip, I didn’t know what to expect, but I had been training hard to go back to my boxing.”

“The brain is starting to work again. Everything I did tonight we had been working on in the gym.”

“It was great fighting in Belfast. Belfast boxers are just brilliant at the minute.”

Delighted with the win, McCullough admits that he was not anticipating a return to major fights so soon after his Commonwealth title loss to Isaac Lowe in February. He recalled how “when I sat down with MGM and had a chat they said ‘Marco we believe in you, we want to push you,’ but I wasn’t expecting titles straight away!”

“I thought it was going to be a long year building back up to where I was because I had lost a lot of fans, a lot of supporters.”

“I thought I was going to have to build up slowly again, but I was straight out there again and it was great for me.”

Photo Credit: Michael Hooley