Paul McCloskey knows defeat is not an option at the Odyssey on Saturday night.
McCloskey faces Manuel Perez on the ‘Judgement Day’ bill and ‘Dudey’ has to win the contest to keep his World Light-welterweight title dreams alive.
And McCloskey is aiming to get back to winning ways after his shock defeat to DeMarcus Corley in May and believes that he needs an impressive win over Perez in order to get back on track to major titles.
“Defeat isn’t an option here – I have to win this fight.
“I want to win and I want to win the fight well but if I win ugly, so be it.
“I don’t really care because I want to get up those WBC rankings as soon as the fight is over,” he added
And the Dungiven southpaw has watched Perez in action.
“I have seen him fight and he is a tough customer, and he comes into this fight off the back of a good result after beating Jose Miguel Cotto in his last fight.
“If I am not at my best this could be a hard night’s work because he is there all the time.
“He works all the time and he is in your face, so I need to be at my best to put him off his game.
“The way I am working at the moment I am feeling very good about the fight, I am feeling very confident.
“I am looking forward to getting back into the ring and getting back to winning ways and a win would put me back in the top 10 rankings,” he said.
And McCloskey says he wants to put the defeat to DeMarcus Corely in his last fight behind him.
“I didn’t perform to my best that night against Corley but I still feel that the fight was stopped very quickly,” said McCloskey.
“I didn’t even get the chance to fight my way out of trouble, so I still have some question marks over the way that fight ended.
“But it has happened now and you have to deal with it and the best way for me to deal with it is for me to get back into the ring and win.
I have been training well and I am in good shape and I am ready for Perez. And I will get the win I need.”
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