Phil Sutcliffe plans to impress the fans with TV-friendly performance

[boxrec]

http://static.boxrec.com/wiki/1/12/Philsutcliffejnr.jpgDublin light-welterweight Phil Sutcliffe Jnr is ready to widen his appeal and give boxing fans a favourable first taste of his talents. The Crumlin youngster, who turned pro in March of this year after a successful amateur career, has been making light work of his opponents so far on the paid circuit.

Two quick wins in Dundalk and one in Belfast has already placed Irish fans on red alert and now the 24-year-old wants to put in a star performance at the October 19 Odyssey Arena show.

“It’s a big card and hopefully we’ll be fighting in front of a few more people and with BoxNation TV it means that a lot more people are going to see it,” mused a typically laid back Sutcliffe at the Europa Hotel press conference, organised to announce Carl Frampton’s next move.

“Frampton’s moving up the ranks fairly quickly and he’s in the right place with the right manager which is what you need in boxing. I trained with Carl for his last show before he turned professional and he’s worked really hard.”

Phil has found it difficult to source opponents that are able to absorb his chilling punch power and offer some form of a test, or at least make it to somewhere near the stipulated distance. So far his three bouts have garnered less than ten minutes of action.

“You don’t go in to knock anyone out, if it happens it happens,” he said. “There are plenty of boys that can go a round or two but we just need to take our time. If I get on telly then hopefully I’ll get spotted and it will all get started. I was on trips with Carl [Frampton] and Eamonn [O’Kane], we got on well and had good craic.”

Sutcliffe’s diary is filling up fast as he is now scheduled to fight Dundalk veteran Michael Kelly in an early November ten-rounder that sees professional boxing make a welcomed return to Dublin. Phil will first have to negotiate a successful outing in Belfast and it’s not his style to look too far ahead or start goading potential future rivals into fights either.

“We’ll leave rivalries to the public, I don’t want to be a big mouth. I’m looking forward to getting on more of these types of shows and hopefully after this year I’ll start getting noticed. I was going to go pro, then give up altogether and then I was told by my Dad to get back training [as rumours circulated of promotional interest]. I had trouble with my (right) hand but it’s holding up ok at the moment; it was a concern. I’ve often done six, eight or ten rounds of sparring, getting it walloped and it’s held up fairly well so far.”

 

 

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