Paddy Gallagher accuses Freddy Kiwitt of sneaking out of rematch clause

Paddy Gallagher claims he is in talks to rematch Freddy Kiwitt but fears the now WBO European champion will “sneak” off and do his best to avoid a repeat.

What should have been a dream start to 2019 for the ambitious Belfast man turned into a bit of a nightmare as he suffered a majority decision defeat to London-based Liberian-German on the top of a York Hall card last month.

Two knockdowns over the 10 rounds cost ‘The Pat Man’ the fight and despite arguing there was a case that both could be ruled slips he took the majority decision [95-95, 94-95, 93-95] defeat on the chin.

However, the charismatic Lenadoon welter does believe he deserves a rematch – yet is not confident that he will get it.

Gallagher reveals that the contract stated Kiwitt would have to fight an MTK fighter in his first defence if he was to win, but claims ‘Pretty Boy’ knows he got “extremely lucky” first time around and doesn’t want a Irish repeat.

“There’s talks going.” Gallagher told Irish-Boxing.com.

“There was a clause in the contract that he had to fight and MTK fighter if he won, but I think he would rather vacate it than fight me.”

“He know he got extremely lucky and it wouldn’t happen again. He is talking about fighting for the African WBO title so it seems he would rather slide off and try sneak another title elsewhere.”

Kiwitt [15(8)-2(0)] has not yet received a WBO ranking for the win, and a challenge of Namibian WBO Africa titleholder and #7 ranked Mikka Shonena of Namibia could be considered a more progressive move career-wise.

That said, the competitiveness of the first one, and the clamour for a second, can’t be understated.

Gallagher dropped to 15(9)-5(0) following the loss but vowed to fight on. A return to the ring around May time has been suggested and there were calls for a Kiwitt rematch to headline the next MTK Global bill in Belfast after the Luke Keeler v Conrad Cummings rematch at the end of the month.

However, according to Gallagher, there is still a ways to go.