By Jonny Stapleton
Michael Sweeney has been pulled off the undercard of Cyrill Thomas and Cristobal Cruz’s IBF featherweight title clash in France on February 14 and will now make his Banner Promotions Tommy Egan Promotions debut in an American St Patrick’s Day show instead.
A late demand for the weight limit to be reduced from light-heavyweight to super-middle for the clash with Frenchman Tony Averlant worried the Mayo Storm’s camp and prompted the withdrawal.
”At such short notice it wouldn’t be safe to lose that kind of weight,” Egan began.
“After speaking with his trainer Sean Mannion and Banner Promotions’ Artie Pelullo, we felt it was a bit much to ask Michael (Sweeney) to drop that kind of weight in such a short time. It is disappointing. We were confident Michael could have defeated Averlant despite the fact he was fighting a French fighter in France with a French referee, but we felt the request to drop weight was too much.”
Despite his obvious disappointment Egan was quick to look to the positives. He highlighted the fact that the undefeated Sweeney will get to spend more time under the guidance of ‘Irish boxing legend” Sean Mannion. Also a new bout, which Egan claims will give his fighter a chance to showcase his talents in front of a wider audience, has been immediately arranged.
Sweeney will now fight on a St Patrick’s weekend show in Illinois which will be aired on broadcaster ESPN’s Friday Fight Night across the States and depending on negotiations, could be televised t in Ireland.
”We have already arranged for Michael to fight in Illinois on March 20 on a St Patrick’s weekend show out there. He is very excited about the prospect of fighting on ESPN and showing his talent to a large audience. Michael also has the chance to work a little more with his fellow Westerner Sean (Mannion). He gets one-on-one training with one of Ireland’s greatest ever boxers which will only benefit him.”
