Phil Sutcliffe Jr promises to “expose” Tyrone McKenna

Phil Sutcliffe Jr carries a reputation as Ireland’s pound-for-pound hardest hitter and has promised to show this against Tyrone McKenna next month.

The light welterweight pair will finally fight on June 30th at the SSE Odyssey Arena in Belfast on the Mick Conlan Homecoming undercard.

Having previously been scheduled to fight on the Frampton-Donaire undercard at the same venue last month, Sutcliffe was forced to pull out with an injured knee.

Belfast’s Anto Upton subsequently stepped in and was outpointed in a competitive bout by McKenna [16(6)-0-1] who scored his third all-Irish win in five fights.

Sutcliffe [14(9)-2(1)] now wants to end the hype around ‘The Mighty Celt’ and is predicting victory regardless of what approach McKenna – who is predicting a stoppage himself – takes.

Dubliner Sutcliffe will be returning to the ring for the first time since winning a fire-fight versus then-unbeaten German Andreas Maier.

“It’s been very frustrating as I’ve been out since Christmas but I don’t lose discipline and take my frustration out on opponents,” he pledged.

“That being said, everyone knows how hard I hit. Tyrone himself knows how hard I hit. We fought as amateurs and have sparred as professionals. He knows what’s coming.”

McKenna has previously labelled Sutcliffe as the hardest puncher he had ever been in with, and Sutcliffe feels the Lenadoon southpaw has no chance on June 30th.

“If he wants to stand and trade, even better. If he wants to run, I’ll find him. If he wants to come forward, even better,” he noted.

“It really doesn’t matter which Tyrone shows up and what tactics he deploys. He’s not in my class and I’m going to expose him on the night.”

Photo Credit: Ricardo Guglielminotti – The Fighting Irish (@ThefIrish)