EXCLUSIVE: MCAFEE: "I'M NOT JUST HERE TO BE A NUMBER, I'LL WIN AND PUT ON A SHOW!"
In just over a weeks time, March 30th at the National Stadium Dublin, ‘Showtime’ Stephen McAfee 5-0-1 (2 KO's) faces his toughest test yet in the form of former Irish amateur star Eric Donovan 8-0 (4 KO's) as they battle for the Irish Featherweight title.
The fight headline’s the hugely-anticipated ‘Clash of the Titans’ bill which will be televised on TV channel TG4.
However McAfee says that despite the billing and national TV coverage, he feels no pressure going in to the fight:
“Look, no one expects me to win this. He’s (Donovan) the one with the amateur medals, pedigree and the years of experience so the pressure is all on him. I'm relatively new to the game but iv gotten to this point with my style and victories.
“But make no mistake, I'm not here to just be a number and part of the Eric Donovan story, I'm here to do what I do best, and that’s win and put on a show. March 30th it’s showtime baby!”
McAfee comes into the fight as the naturally bigger man, and as the Celtic Super-featherweight champion, but says that the drop down in weight won’t be an issue, despite having begun his career up at lightweight:
“There’s two ways of looking at it, for me it’s the first time I'll be coming into the fight as the naturally bigger man, which can obviously play out in my favour in certain ways"
"But at the same time, it’s his weight, he’s the natural featherweight, so im the one coming down to his territory, so I guess it’s another added pressure on him to perform"
Despite the fight being in his third weight class, McAfee says he’s open to sticking around at featherweight after March 30th.
“To be honest, I think super-feather will be my main weight class, but saying that, I'm actually making feather easily enough and feeling really strong so who knows, maybe after I win on March 30th I'll stick around at feather, time will tell. “
(Feargal McCrory above)
Prior to the fight, McAfee was due to face Feargal McCrory for the Irish Super-featherweight belt, but McCrory since went on to beat Karl Kelly for the Irish lightweight crown. And McAfee says the fight with McCrory is still one he’d happily take,
“Yeah I seen that he went to lightweight, but I think that was only because of the title shot. I think he’ll move back down to super-feather. So look, if the fight is still there I'll happily take it. I'm well up for it and I think everyone knows by now that il take on anyone.”
*Tickets for ‘Clash of the titans’ are still available and can be purchased through Stephen directly or from www.ticketmaster.ie
#irishfeatherweight #showtimestephenmcafee #mcaeedonovan #celticsuperfeatherweight #feargalmccrory #irishboxing #ireland #ukboxing