Wayne McCullough is confident he can claim the WBO featherweight title when he meets holder Scott Harrison on Saturday. He put up a sterling performance against Naseem Hamed four-and-a-half years ago before losing on points and claimed he can take anything the Scotsman can throw at him.
He said: “I'm confident I can take Harrison's best shots. He might be bigger physically but not in terms of the size of his heart. He's certainly strong but Hamed was known as the strongest featherweight in history and he couldn't flinch me. I'm only a wiry little kid and I don't have big muscles the way other boxers have but I've got strength inside and I can certainly fight.”
“Harrison will panic when he gets a few punches in and I'm still standing there. Hamed didn't know what to do when that happened and it'll be the same with Harrison because I'm not going to go away.
“I've got the best chin in boxing according to Ring magazine and I can take a good shot. I'm going to stand toe-to-toe with him and whoever has the best chin will win. I'm going to get hit a few times of course but I throw a lot of punches and I'm going to hit him more than he hits me.”
Harrison was unconcerned at the claims of the American-based fighter and said: “He might have the strong chin but does he have the body to take my body punches and combinations? We've been working on different strategies and we'll see how it goes on the night. I think he'll get stopped in the later part of the fight but as long as I win I don't care.”
Many people in the boxing industry have been surprised Harrison has chosen such a difficult opponent for his first title defence. The 32-year-old McCullough had been in with some of the top names in the division and the Irishman claimed his greater experience would give him the edge on the night.
He said: “It's definitely a step up in class for Harrison and he's now at a different level completely. He's taking a big step and a hard step and he'll have to dig deep. But fair play to him for giving me my opportunity. I thought maybe I would have had to wait until the end of this year for it to happen but it's come quick.
Harrison accepted that the Irishman had the experience of fighting a better class of boxer but said: “McCullough's been in with the best but he's not beaten the best. He's still operating at world level but I don't think he's as good as he used to be. He needs to remember he's fighting in the featherweight division and I'm coming down to that weight. So I think that will be a big factor in the fight.”
Filed by Johnny Proby
