Sweeney takes his next step to shot at world title

Former Irish amateur heavyweight champion, Gary Sweeney, will look to secure his second victory as a professional fighter when he faces Slovakian Marek Gabor at the Ice Arena in Cardiff this Saturday night.

The Ballinrobe native, who lives in Knocknacarra and trains out of Olympic Boxing Club, will feature on the undercard of the Guillermo Rigondeaux v Jazza Dickens WBA Super World Super Bantamweight Championship fight.

Also on the card, Liam Williams defends his British and Commonwealth Super-Welterweight title against Gary Corcoran, who recently jumped to fifth in the WBO World Rankings after winning his Intercontinental title fight against Danny Butler; while Terry Flanagan defends his WBO World Lightweight Championship against South African Mzonke Fana.

For Sweeney’s part, the 22-year-old, who launched his professional career with a knock-out victory over Mario Lakatos at Bolton Whites Hotel in May, will face Marek Gabor of Slovakia in a cruiserweight contest.

Gabor has a poor record to date, losing his first five professional skirmishes at light heavyweight, and it is unlikely to get much better for the Eastern European in this bout against a teak tough Sweeney.

Sweeney’s brother and trainer, Michael, says his charge is in splendid shape going into this one.

“He is in good form and the training is going well with sparring and stuff. He is looking in better shape than he was for the last one. He only got three weeks’ notice for that, and we have six weeks for this one. You can see a massive difference.

“He is just delighted to be getting the opportunity so fast again (after the last fight) and he is hoping to be kept busy from now on, hoping to fight every eight weeks or so. To be honest, to be on such a bill in his second fight is fantastic as regards exposure and stuff.”

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.