February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The Clones Cyclone was once a world champion. The Clones Colossus now reckons he someday will be. Is there something in the water in south west Monaghan?
Kevin McBride’s win over Mike Tyson was a shocker. Okay, Tyson isn’t the boxer he once was, but even at his advanced age nobody beyond McBride’s corner and immediate family was predicting even a chance for the 6′ 6″ heavyweight.
Not even Barry McGuigan gave McBride much of a prayer.
Now the journeyman becomes a contender and Mike Tyson, assuming he keeps to his word, walks off into the sunset.
Even if Tyson does fight again, and even if McBride stumbles next time around, McBride has carved his name into boxing lore.
Now, of course, he has a golden opportunity to build on his surprising success. McBride reckons has boldly predicted that he can be the first ever Irish-born world heavyweight champion. Well, we remember bold predictions from McGuigan. And they came to pass
As if the weekend wasn’t exciting enough, Derry’s John Duddy won at Madison Square Garden while Irish American Danny McDermott, out of Jersey City, also came away a winner at the world famous arena.
McGuigan, of course, had the easiest task at hand. The former world featherweight title holder is now on the books at the hall of fame in Canastota, an upstate New York town not too far from Syracuse.
The Cyclone’s place in history is copper-fastened. That the Colossus might follow him is now boxing’s most intriguing possibility.