Boxer Tyrone McKenna’s message: 'He hates me and I hate him'

The Belfast super lightweight has come out of retirement and wants to silence his French opponent after all the animosity following their first fight the York Hall, Bethnal Green back in February 2020 when McKenna got the decision on points.

And if the fight lives up to the fireworks at yesterday’s weigh-in, where both boxers had to be separated, the Belfast fans are in for a treat.

“There is no love lost, he hates me, and I hate him,” said McKenna. “He has done a lot of not nice things, not a lot of nice posts, he has tortured me, he has got his friends to torture me, he has got boxing celebrities like Roy Jones to put videos out and he needs to pay for the annoyance of the last four years.

“The first fight was one of my most entertaining fights, regardless of the decision it was an unbelievable fight.

“I thought it was a very close fight and it could have gone either way, he felt he deserved it which he could have felt because it was a close fight but it wasn’t a robbery and he cried for four long years about this and I have given him the opportunity to come back because I do think it is a blemish on my record.

“I love my fans and I fight for my fans and a few of them thought he won the fight, so if they want to have a rematch I’ll have the rematch.”

McKenna retired after losing on points to Lewis Crocker last December in the Battle of Belfast but instantly regretted the decision.

“I’m a very impulsive guy, there was a lot of talk whoever lost that fight would retire, I barley slept after the fight I sat there, my Mrs was sleeping and I was like ‘I’m retiring’,” he said. “It was a very impulsive move, I think because of the inactivity I hadn’t fought in a year-and-a-half I was already disheartened before the fight then I got beat and was like I’m not waiting another year and-a-half.

“I was fed up and wanted to retire, I’d fell out of love with boxing and I should have gone down to my original weight where I should have been but instead I retired.

“It was probably the best move that I had ever done...it made me realise I hate retirement, I hate a mundane normal life, I love boxing and fell in love with it again.

“I fell like a fresh new man, I feel like I am making my debut again this is my return and I think retirement made me realise all that.”

After watching his good friend and neighbour Anthony Cacace win a world title at 35 years old, McKenna – a year younger - wants to achieve the same.

“I grew up in the same street as Cacace, I’ve always looked up to him he’s a year older, we went to the same boxing club as kids, and I always wanted to emulate him,” he said. “He won the All Irelands then I won them the next year, all through our amateur careers whatever he won I wanted to win.

“The pro ranks is no different, right now I live two minutes away from his house and to see him lift that world title is unbelievable.

“He deserves it because he is so talented, I have always said he is one of the most talented fighters in Ireland. To see him lift that world title is something special and he has inspired me and the whole city.

“He has given me advice and is right behind me chasing that dream as well and I believe I can, he showed how close you are to winning a world title...it can come out of nowhere.”

Also, Owen O’Neill swapped the football pitch for the boxing ring and will look to make it 14 wins from 14 fights tonight as he faces Dublin’s Dylan Moran at the SSE Arena.

The north-Belfast super welterweight played on the same Cliftonville team as Rory and Ronan Hale but he decided his future lay in the boxing.

O’Neill was at Windsor Park in May to watch the Reds lift the Irish Cup for the first time since 1979 but, with what he describes as the most important fight of his career coming up, he had to curtail the celebrations.

“Football was always my first sport as a kid, right up until I was 19, I just played football and that was the first thing I concentrated on and boxing was like a hobby to me,” explained O’Neill. “Then at 20 I realised that I was better at boxing than I was a football, so I gave boxing everything and I haven’t looked back.

“I met Dan Anderson when I was about 19 or 20 and he started doing S & C with me, we just clicked and haven’t looked back and now we are going to be fighting in the SSE Arena with him in my corner in the best fight of my career on DAZN, it is a dream come true.

“When is was a kid I always done a wee bit of boxing, Monday and Wednesday was football and then maybe boxing on a Friday night, my two cousins were boxers and I always went with them on a Friday to the Dockers.

“I always just dipped my foot into it until I was 19 or 20 then gave it 100 per cent.”

O’Neill is relishing the opportunity to step into the ring in front of his home fans.

“It is a dream come true, it is my 14th fight, I’m fighting in the SSE Arena, I have been to all the boxing here...from Martin Rogan to Mick Conlan, Ryan Brunette to Padraig McCrory, I’ve been to them all and, honestly, it is amazing I’m on the card,” he said. “Cliftonville won the Irish Cup...that was massive for me, but I didn’t even drink because I knew I had this fight in the pipeline, it was like 11 weeks out.”