Stoke sensation Nathan Heaney meets Bolton boxer Jack Flatley in title defence
The honeymoon is on hold for newlywed Nathan Heaney due to a big night beckoning at the AO Arena, Manchester, where he takes on a domestic battle with Jack Flatley on September 24.
Heaney recently tied the knot with Louise, his sweetheart of 11 years, but he knew plans for a sunshine break to mark the occasion would have to be put to one side because a spot on the blockbuster Joyce-Parker card had been earmarked for him and his army of supporters.
Heaney, 33 and 15-0, comes into the Flatley fight off three impressive and hard-fought victories over international opposition, with two stoppages over Konstantin Aleksandrov and Sladan Janjanin before he recovered from a first round knockdown to comfortably outpoint Diego Ramirez.
Now he is set for a Stoke v Bolton collision against Flatley with his IBO International middleweight belt on the line.
He hopes skipping the post-wedding sunshine will be a sacrifice worth making.
"The only thing is having to hold off on the honeymoon because of fighting on the Joyce card, which is a bit of a nightmare, but if everything goes well and I'm sure it will do, it will all be worth it.
"I need to keep the paypackets going now!"
Heaney missed out on a night's pay when injury ruled him out of the July show at the SSE Arena, Wembley – a night also headlined by Joyce – and he was denied the opportunity of leading his troops into London.
"It was really disappointing, mostly for the fact I would have been fighting in the capital and a new place for my guys to go to. I went down to the show to support and watch it and I thought to myself that the place would have been full of Stokies.
"Over 650 bought tickets off me and, as we got closer, there would have been another 50 or so and it would have been really, really good just to show Frank and everyone where my guys will travel to.
"It obviously didn't happen and it would have been very silly of me to fight with an injury," added Heaney, who reports that all is now well on the fitness front.
"I basically sprained a ligament in the back of my shoulder and I had an MRI to check whether it was torn or not. If it was, it would have been really, really bad and I would have had to have surgery, but my injury was more a degeneration of the whole shoulder, which was why I was getting a lot of pain.
"Since I have had treatment it has been really good. I have been boxing for 23 years and it is essentially just wear and tear."
Tickets for ‘Nowhere to Run’ – the heavyweight clash between Joe Joyce and Joe Parker on 24 September at the AO Arena, Manchester being shown exclusively live on BT Sport Box Office – are priced from £40 and are on sale now exclusively from Ticketmaster.co.uk.
As well as the huge Joyce vs Parker clash, 'Nowhere To Run' will see Amanda Serrano bidding to win four world title belts at featherweight when the Puerto Rican superstar makes her UK debut against the unbeaten Dane, Sarah Mahfoud.
Queensberry fighters Anthony Cacace, Ekow Essuman, Raven Chapman and Mark Heffron all feature in the supporting cast of the 24 September ‘Nowhere to Run’ blockbuster at the AO Arena, Manchester, a fight night not-to-be-missed.
