Three Irish fighters turned down title clash with Crank Whitehouse
Gerard Whitehouse [6(1)-0] had hoped to fight for his first professional title next month, but the Balbriggan welterweight has seen no willing takers.
The 22 year old features prominently on the ‘Celtic Clash 3: Building Champions’ undercard at the National Stadium on Saturday September 9th, and for him it will indeed now be a case of building rather than becoming a champion.
The plan had been for Whitehouse to fight for the BUI Celtic or Celtic Nations title of the card, which is headlined by a BUI Celtic featherweight title fight between Kildare’s Eric Donovan and Welsh champion Dai Davies.
However, Whitehouse claims that three of his domestic rivals turned down the chance to face him on the Boxing Ireland/Tony Davitt card.
‘Crank’ explained to Irish-Boxing.com that “it was meant to be a title fight which I was looking forward to, but we struggled with finding a opponent.”
“We were in talks with three Irish fighters but couldn’t get the fights made. There was offers made to two other welters and one light welter to box me on the show but the fights couldn’t be made.
One of these three fighters is believed to be Loughlinstown boxer Jay Byrne [5(1)-2(0)] who elected to take a high-profile fight with Rio Olympian Anthony Fowler in Liverpool next month instead. ‘The Negotiator’ has been involved in back-and-forths with Whitehouse this year.
In terms of who Whitehouse will face next, there should be an announcement soon, and he detailed how “I’ll know today, there are two guys Tony is working on. A step up hopefully.”
“I’m ready for any welterweight in Ireland ”
Whitehouse has been training in his home club of Bracken for this upcoming six-rounder, and has been getting sparring in with the likes of Keane McMahon, John Joyce, and Niall O’Connor, all of whom feature on the bill.
It is a record-breaking card next month in terms of the number of fighters on the bill, but the former underage amateur star does not feel any pressure
Whitehouse outlined how “it’s great that Tony and the lads from Boxing Ireland are putting these shows on, good for me as it will keep me active and for all the lads starting out to be getting fights.”
“Camp’s been going well as always, just getting a few more rounds sparring done now in the next twp weeks then wrap it up.”
“Anything can happen in the ring, I just go in there focus on what I’ve got to do and do it. If a big shot comes and takes him out all well and good, but I won’t go looking for it.”
Headlined by the Eric Donovan v Dai Davies BUI Celtic featherweight title fight, the ‘Celtic Clash 3: Building Champions’ card also features Regan Buckley v Carl McDonald, Anto Cacace, Stephen McAfee, Martin Quinn, Aiden Metcalfe, Dylan McDonagh, Colin O’Donovan, Chris Mullally, Michael Gallagher, Keane McMahon, Niall O’Connor, John Joyce and Bernard Roe.
Tickets for the show cost €30 (Balcony), €40 (Gallery), €60 (Ringside), €100 (VIP Premium), and €15 (Under-15s gallery – must be bought alongside an adult ticket) and are available to buy from Gerard at 089 235 7211 or online at Ticketmaster.ie
Photo Credit: Laszlo Geczo Photography
