ARMAGH sport has enjoyed an unforgettable week. On Sunday the county’s footballers won the Sam Maguire. On Tuesday swimmer Daniel Wiffin won gold at the Olympic Games and now boxer Fearghus Quinn intends to round off seven glorious days for the Orchard County with victory at the SSE Arena on Saturday night.
Unbeaten middleweight Quinn (9-0) is up against Scotland’s Aston Brown who also has an unblemished record (6-0) and the winner is expected to kick on to British title level by the end of the year.
Belleeks native Quinn was in Croke Park last Sunday to cheer his county to victory over Galway. He played with several of the new All-Ireland champions including – Jarly Og Burns, Ben Crealey, Greg McCabe, Blaine Hughes – at minor and U21 level for Armagh.
“I probably played with half the team,” he said.
“It was great to see them do the business, they’ve been soldiering with Armagh the whole time and the excitement around the county was unbelievable – the enjoyment people got out of Armagh for weeks has been class.
“I was down at the Carrickdale Hotel on Monday to see the team coming out and the amount of children who are football-mad in the county now! It’s great to see. Everybody is on a high and for a small club like mine in Belleek.
“We won the league last year and now something like this does untolled good for getting members and kids interested in the game so it’ll be massive for all the whole county.”
As he sat in the stands on Sunday, Quinn could have been forgiven for feeling a little jealous that he wasn’t out there with his former teammates. However, he has no regrets about choosing the ‘noble art’.
“I made my bed years ago with the boxing and I have a big night on Saturday to look forward to and many big nights after that,” he said.
“For me, it’s all about making the most out of my career and I have no regrets about going with boxing.
“It’s great to see the lads get over the line and I want to keep the Armagh momentum going on Saturday night. I’ve always had great support from people in Armagh, they’ve always come out and cheered me on and hopefully as the fights get bigger and the nights get bigger you’ll see more of them out too.”
The fight was originally scheduled for March but Quinn had to take time out to let a hand injury heal and he got married in May so Saturday’s fight will be his first since December last year when he out-pointed Angel Emilov. Superbly fit, Quinn is a relentless pressure fighter with a fan-friendly, all-action style and in Scotland’s Brown he meets a fighter who travels full of confidence after stopping Mexico’s Edgar Romero.
“It’s a good fight, a tough fight and it’s a bit of a risk-reward fight for both of us,” said Quinn.
“We’re both undefeated fighters, we’re both taking a bit of a risk but the rewards are there to boost us on to big fights after this one. Whoever comes through has a lot to look forward to and I’m confident it’ll be me.
“On paper it’s probably a 50-50 fight which is what I want. That’s the reason I turned professional – it was to be in these big fights on these big nights and I can’t wait for it.”
The main event on Saturday night is the eagerly-awaited rematch between Belfast light-welterweight Tyrone McKenna and Frenchman Mohammad Mimoune, who will have former pound-for-pound world number one Roy Jones junior in his corner.
McKenna got a disputed decision against Mimoune in London back in 2020 and, in typical warrior style, he wants to settle the argument once and for all.
Unbeaten Caoimhin Agyarko returns to action on a card that features five Irish fighters make their professional debuts.
Welterweight: Tyrone McKenna (23-4-1) v Mohamed Mimoune (23-6)
Super-welterweight: Caoimhin Agyarko (14-0) v Tomi Silvennoinen (12-4)
Middleweight: Fearghus Quinn (9-0) v Aston Brown (6-0)
Welterweight: Owen O’Neill (13-0) v Dylan Moran (18-2)
Middleweight: John Boyd (2-0) v Jordan Grannum (11-141-5)
Featherweight: Matthew Boreland (1-0) v Erick Omar Lopez (16-13-2)
Welterweight: Gareth Dowling (debut) v Ilias Liokaftos (0-4)
Super-featherweight: Teo Alin (debut) v Engel Gomez (8-33-3)
Middleweight: Gary Arthurs (debut) v Edgar Romero (13-27-3)
Featherweight: Jack O’Neill (debut) v Jake Pollard (1-74)
Welterweight: Dean Gonzalez Furlong (1-0) v Paul Scaife (1-44-1)
Middleweight: Cathal McLaughlin (debut) v Martin Shaw (4-25-3)
