CONNOR Coyle is ready and prepared for his next big challenge. The American middleweight will take on Kyle Lomotey tomorrow night at Barnsley’s Oakwell Football Stadium as part of a support act for Zak Chelli-Callum Simpson. The eight-round bout is a must-win for Coyle, 20-0 (9 KOs).
Flopping around the domestic scene is not something Coyle wants to spend much time on, especially with Erislandy Lara in mind. Connor believes Lara’s Cuban heritage speaks for itself, as does his world title pedigree. Sharing the ring with the slick left-hander and current WBA titleholder is something the 34-year-old Irishman would relish.
“Lara is definitely on my radar for the next fight, a potential fight after August 3. I think the middleweight division is wide open for anyone right now. I feel like I can beat any of them at middleweight, and I have no doubt that I can fight anyone in the world,” he said. Boxing News.
While Lara’s career is still at its peak, even at 41, middleweight contender Janibek Alimkhanuly is busy cleaning up his career after a serious incident forced the unified champion to withdraw from a fight during fight week.
Janibek Alimkhanuly vs Vincenzo Gualtieri_action5 clones
The incident is typical of the problems some fighters face when cutting weight, and while Coyle has no concerns about the issue, he wishes the Kazakh champion well.
“I’ve never seen him in person, so I don’t know how big he really is. He looks big on TV and on pictures and stuff, but struggling so close to the fight, not making weight, I don’t know how that’s possible. You have a full training camp, you should know a week in advance, how much weight you can cut.
“He must be huge for this weight class and he must have struggled a lot to get those last few pounds off and he was dehydrated. So I hope everything is OK. I haven’t heard from him yet. If he struggled that much to get to this weight, he should definitely move up,” Coyle sympathized.
Weight loss is part of the sacrifices fighters make to build a career, make money and provide great entertainment to the public. Coyle has strategies for losing weight safely and usually loses about a pound.
Two other contenders in the 160-pound weight class will compete on September 21, when British contenders Hamzah Sheeraz and Tyler Denny will fight for Denny’s European title at Wembley.
“Both fighters are good and seem like really serious people,” Coyle commented.
“Sheeraz beats Ammo [Austin Williams]. I was supposed to fight Ammo in February and I had to pull out because of an elbow injury. I still wanted to fight, but the team thought it would be too risky to continue with one arm.
“Sheeraz did well with Ammo in that fight and I just thought he might be too strong for Tyler. I think Tyler is a great boxer, but I thought Sheeraz would be a little too big and his punches would be off target. So I think I would pick Sheeraz in that fight.”
Boxing the winner of that fight or the Liam Smith-Josh Kelly fight on the same show would be just the ticket for Connor Coyle. Big names mean big fights, and the US-based fighter knows a big opportunity is coming his way if he makes short work of Kyle Lomotey at Oakwell.
“I would be ready for any of them. I want any of them. I want to fight the best of the best. I tried to have a good match, a higher opponent. I had a chance and they fell behind. I lost the chance after that.”
Despite not drinking at the last-chance pub, Coyle couldn’t let those opportunities slip away again.
