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Anthony Fitzgerald is predicting a win inside four rounds when he meets Lee Murtagh for the vacant Irish Super Middleweight title on the Sierra Fight Night at the National Stadium in Dublin on Saturday, December 5th.
The bill is headlined by reigning European Middleweight Champion Matthew Macklin’s clash with Uruguayan champ, Rafa Sosa Pintos but Dubliner Fitzgerald believes he can steal the show with a knockout performance.
The inner city fans favourite is predicting an early night that will secure him an early Christmas present with the Irish title. “I’ll be surprised if Murtagh’s still there to hear the bell for the fourth round. I think he’ll look at my record and underestimate me and my power. I’m not going to go looking for the knockout, I’ll be nice and patient but I genuinely believe I’ll get him out of there early.
Fitzgerald was ringside in Limerick earlier this month to see Murtagh warm up for their bout with a points win over German Marcen Gierke and he says he saw nothing to frighten him.
“I wasn’t very impressed with him but to be fair it might have been an off night,” said Fitzgerald. “When you look at his record he has a hell of a lot of experience in comparison to me. He’s been a pro now for almost 15 years while I only turned professional just over a year ago. He’s had 39 fights compared to my 7 and he knows how to do the Championship distance, he’s had eleven ten round fights and one twelve rounder so you have to respect that kind of experience.”
Fitzgerald’s prediction of an early night was supported by Jim Rock recently when “The Pink Panther” analysed Murtagh’s win in Limerick for RTÉ. “It’s great to have someone as experienced as Jim Rock saying that he believes I can stop Murtagh. Jim’s won Irish titles at 4 different weights so he knows what he’s talking about when it comes to Irish title fights and it would be great to match his record or even beat it.”
Should Fitzgerald emerge from next weekend’s clash with the Irish title belt around his waist he admits he may have some unfinished business with Dublin rival Robbie Long. The two men have met twice already this year in domestic classics and with one win a piece a third encounter between the two seems inevitable at some point.
“I’m sure that Robbie will be the first in the queue to challenge me when I win the Irish title. He deserves his chance, we’ve already had two great fights and we’re one a piece. He’s tough as nails so I have a lot of respect for him.”
Fitzgerald lost their first encounter in January but reversed that result last month in another thriller at the National Stadium. “I was a lot more seasoned as a professional coming into the rematch and it showed. I used my boxing ability second time around but the first time I was still basically fighting like an amateur and I put everything into the first three rounds and had nothing left after that. It was a great learning experience though and I showed I had learned from it in the second fight but I’d have no problem getting it on again with Robbie next year with the Irish title on the line.”
The Sierra Fight Night also features a second Irish title fight with Dublin’s Paul Hyland making the first defence of his Irish Super Bantamweight title against Eugene Heagney. Unbeaten Cork based Cuban sensation Luis Garcia will also be in action alongside undefeated Dundalk Lightweight Michael Kelly, Omagh’s Damian Taggart and new Belfast pro Jamie Conlan.
Tickets for the Sierra Fight Night priced from €40 are available from Ticketmaster (phone 0818 719 300 or visit ticketmaster.ie) and all usual outlets.
