Humble Dennis McCann believes in his own talent
After only three professional fights, the whispers about Dennis McCann aren’t really whispers any more.
‘The Menace’, signed to Frank Warren, is seemingly going to be just that to the entire bantamweight division and the smiles he puts on faces – including his own – speak volumes. Tonight, he aims to win over a few more fans when he faces Georgi Georgiev in the glorious surroundings of the Royal Albert Hall. Some stage. Some talent.
To begin at the beginning… at least of his professional career.
McCann made his debut in a stadium on the undercard of Billy Joe Saunders’ world title victory over Shefat Isufi. With a staggering NINE national titles to his name as an amateur, there were a few nods and winks around that this 18-year-old was something quite special.
With thousands already inside Stevenage’s Lamex Stadium and the BT Sport cameras rolling, expectations were high. Still, McCann exceeded them.
Bounding down the walkway to Elvis Presley’s classic ‘Jailhouse Rock’, McCann instantly appeared to the manor born. A teenager entering to music fully 60 years old is out of the ordinary. So, more importantly, are McCann’s gifts as a fighter – he went on to knock down Kamil Jarowek twice before the referee mercifully waved the fight off with less than two minutes on the first-round clock…
You got the sense a star was born that summer evening and his subsequent two bouts – a ruthless shutout of Jerson Larios (a fighter with a winning record) and then a 30-second annihilation of Georgi Andonov on another big stage at Féile an Phobail – did nothing to dampen enthusiasm.
Some boxers are so natural they make it all look ridiculously easy. McCann is one of them. He has a wonderfully loose style that doesn’t seem to detract from his sense of defensive duty and in general, what’s just as impressive as his God-given gifts are his maturity and eagerness to improve under trainer Al Smith.
McCann said: “I want to keep learning all the time. I know I’m good but I want to be great and you can’t be great if you spend much time believing your own hype because you’re wasting opportunities to be getting better.
“I try to listen hard to what Al is trying to teach me and I know I’m in the right place to fulfil my potential. That iBox Gym is absolutely buzzing and there are other great fighters like Lucien Reid down there who I spar with and learn off too.
“I’m in this game to reach the top and I’m level-headed enough to know my best chance of doing that is to keep my discipline and not let things go to my head. Yes, I’ve had a successful amateur career and a good start to my professional one but I won’t be happy until I’m a multi-weight world champion. That’s the end goal and I’ve got a lot to do to get there.”
Wise words from one so young, but surely McCann already feels he belongs in boxing and is fully deserving of all the hype being afforded to him?
In a word, yes… Yes he does…
He added: “Of course I believe in my talent. Of course I believe I belong on stages like the one I’m fighting on this weekend. Of course I’m enjoying it all. I just know that talent only gets you so far and I’m fully prepared to put in the hard work that’s also needed.
“People will say what they want. I know people love knockouts and I’m glad to have blasted two out early but the fight that went all four rounds taught me much more than the other two combined, so it’s all a learning curve.
“I’ve got the best team behind me in my trainers, my promoter Frank Warren and my management MTK Global so I’ll just keep listening to what they tell me and keep doing my bit by preparing properly and performing.
“If I do all that, I believe I’ll be a big star in this game.”
They aren’t whispers any more… and sooner or later you feel pretty confident people will be shouting pretty loudly about Dennis McCann.