“Show everyone who doubted you” – Ronnie Clark issues British title war cry for Paul Hyland
Control the controllables – that is Ronnie Clark‘s message for Paul Hyland ahead of a potentially life changing British title challenge tomorrow night.
‘The Shark’ knows what it is like to travel and play the role of underdog on a big TV show.
The 33-year-old Scott lost via a tight decision to Martin J Ward in an exciting British title fight before upsetting the odds and Zelfa Barrett live on BoxNation to claim the IBF European super featherweight title in February of this year.
‘Hylo’ has yet to taste defeat, but he does find himself in a similar situation to his MHD stable mate this coming weekend.
The war-loving Belfast starlet travels to Newcastle to take on Matchroom’s latest next big thing in British champion Lewis Ritson.
Not only will Ritson be attempting to win the Lonsdale Belt outright, the fight is seen as a big coming out party for the promotional outfit who are looking to add another city to the their list of go-to places.
From the outside looking in, it makes a tough fight look that bit harder but Clark has told Hyland, who in fairness has expressed nothing but confidence, not to worry about external factors and focus on the man that will stand across from him when the first bell rings.
“A fight is a fight,” Clark emphatically told Irish-Boxing.com.
“Of course you have suspect score cards etc but that’s all out of your control so it’s not worth wasting energy,” he added before hinting that Hyland is aware of the latter having seen him drop and defeat Barrett and James Tennyson stop Martin Ward to claim the European super featherweight title.
“He has a great team around him who have been there and done it. In fact, they have done it twice in the last six months.”
“Go out and do what you can do and show everyone who doubted you.”
Mark Dunlop-managed and Tony Dunlop-trained Dundee fighter has, like most, heard good things about ‘The Sandman’ Ritson, who has three stoppage wins from three British title fights, but has seen better from Hyland.
Having worked up close with the understated and possibly under-rated Lagmore lightweight, Clark claims he knows the fighter’s credentials and expects Hyland to show them come this Saturday night.
“I have heard amazing things about Lewis Ritson up here in Scotland but, trust me, don’t look past Hylo. He won’t lie down and he lives the life.”
“I’m not going to make a prediction as I will let people see for themselves, but the people who matter know what Paul Hyland Jr is about,” he added before praising everyone involved for making the fight.
“This is the way boxing should be. Two fighters with identical records being matched and not padding out records. Both have done it the hard way.”
