Phil Sutcliffe Jr responds to string of recent call-outs

Last year he let it be known that he wasn’t happy with other Irish light welterweights talking about possible Irish title fights without mentioning him as an opponent. Now however, Philip Sutcliffe Jr‘s name is being dropped more often than his opponents are in the ring.

A number of domestic rivals have stated they were open to the clash. Straight-talking crowd-pleaser Darragh Foley was probably the most forthright, while Jake Hanney, and Tyrone McKenna also stated their willingness to meet him in the ring.

Sutcliffe [12(7)-1(0)] seems content to have the options, but questions his rivals motives, suggesting that the chance of a pay day and/or the fact he had a tough bout with Chris Jenkins last time out is the catalyst behind the increased interest.

“I’ve seen a few mention me of late. You know me, I would fight anyone. I think some of them are reading too much into the Jenkins fight and getting a bit brave,” Sutcliffe told Irish-Boxing.com recently.

“As I said, Jenkins is massively underrated. I underrated him myself. Watch, now no one will be queuing up to fight him after our fight. They also hope MGM will pay them for the fight, but let them put the money up and the fight is easily made.”

One fighter, who mentioned his name before the Jenkins tussle was MGM stablemate Tyrone McKenna. Just days before he produced a career-best performance against Sean Creagh, ‘The Mighty Celt’ claimed the fight was a possibility. Indeed, an Irish title fight between the Belfast southpaw and the Crumlin BC graduate was authorised by the Boxing Union of Ireland.

However, ‘Succo’ doesn’t think that is next on the agenda, indicating that his team may have aspirations away from the domestic scene.

“There is the Tyrone McKenna fight, which is easy to make because we are both MGM,” he explained. “I have no problem taking that fight, but I think MGM are planning on getting me some ranking titles now and we will see from there. I wanted to fight for the Irish title since my fourth fight and you know I would fight anyone. We will see how it plays out.”

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

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Joe O’Neill and Gavan Casey look ahead to 2017 in episode 1 of The Irish Boxing Show