Niall Kennedy happy with American progression

Niall Kennedy [5(3)-0] travels to Boston today for his third successive Stateside scrap, and he is starting to see the progression.

The Wexford heavyweight fights on the annual Murphys Boxing Monster Brawl card at the Memorial Hall in Melrose on Saturday, and Boom Boom Baz feels like he is starting to make an impact on the New England scene.

Kennedy spoke to Irish-Boxing.com about his upcoming bout and described the step up. The Gorey big man noted how the fight will play out over six rounds and that “I think it’s the main support bout on the show as far as I’m aware.”

“I think Ken [Casey, Murphys Boxing chief] is looking to build me progressively over there at the minute.”

With a rise in profile comes a rise in the level of opposition, and Kennedy faces Henry Namauu [10(5)-8(4)] this weekend. The Celtic Warrior Gym puncher is happy with the choice of opposition and explained how “on Boxrec, his record is very good. His activity has dwindled, he hasn’t boxed since March 2014. But he’s in good shape and he’s my age, he’s 32 as well, and he’s supposed to be super fit so it’ll definitely be a test

“One of his last fights was Billy Zumbrun, he lost a close decision over eight rounds, and Zumbrun’s fight afterwards was against Dominic Breazeale so that will tell you about the step up and that the caliber is a little bit stronger.”

The weekend begins a busy few weeks for Kennedy who is also slated to appear on the Red Corner Promotions ‘Inception’ show at the National Stadium on November 5th, but the Yellow Belly is wary of looking too far ahead

“I’m excited about November 5th here, but I’m not thinking about November 5th,” he stressed.

“If I don’t perform in Boston this weekend, November 5th doesn’t happen. I’m not even thinking about Dublin to be honest with you.”

“My tunnel vision is on this weekend.”