Stevie McKenna blasts American rival Ryan Garcia
Red-hot Irish prospect Stevie McKenna (5-0, 5KOs) has come out all-guns-blazing at his American rival Ryan Garcia.
The undefeated Monaghan super-lightweight defeated Scotsman Gary McGuire (1-17) at the LS Live TV studio in Wakefield, as he took his perfect record to 5-0 on the undrcard of the Channel 5 show on September 5, headlined by Alex Dilmaghani and European super-featherweight champion Samir Ziani
But it’s the simmering tensions that has reached boiling point between McKenna and Garcia that has captured the attentions of fans around the world.
Unbeaten 'Kingry' is all set to face Brit Luke Campbell for the WBC interim world title in his next fight, with the date yet to be arranged by Matchroom Boxing.
In an exclusive interview with Hennessy Sports partner Seconds Out, McKenna and his father and co-trainer Fergal, explosively reveal exactly what really happened in that infamous sparring session; the real reason behind the Twitter spat; the vicious and nasty messages sent by Garcia and a future fight between them.
Here are some of the more hard-hitting comments in the interview:
Stevie on Garcia as a fighter…
"He hasn’t fought anyone that puts it on him… once that day comes he will fall and he will get beat."
Stevie on Garcia sending spiteful messages…
"He’s the kind of guy that likes to hide behind a phone and send messages. I'd rather get in the ring than send messages and I'll bash him up again. It was him that started to get personal about it, once he started that I just wanted to let everyone know how the spar really went."
Stevie on ‘that’ sparring session…
"He fights like a coward, cowards always get exposed. I was wearing 16oz gloves…and this prima donna is wearing a pair of 14oz wee small little gloves. He was supposed to do six rounds but jumped out after four after taking beatdown and then never wanted to spar again. He couldn't handle my style of fighting. He actually lifted his front leg at one stage, he couldn't handle it at all, he buckled.
"He tried to say he wobbled me, but the only one that seemed to get wobbled in the spar was him, even when he was in the corner and lifted up his front leg."
His father Fergal added…
"He doesn’t like getting his hair tossed…He’s the type of fighter if you lay a glove on him in the wrong place, he’d almost start crying. We were very fortunate to get the spar. Garcia probably thought, because Steven was a debutant fighter, it was going to be an easy six-round spar, but we had our intentions that we were gonna' win and test him in a very physical manner just to see what this kid brought to the table. Steven basically roughed him up, he was very aggressive and dominant. He didn't wanna know, we were very taken aback by that, we were very surprised.
"Some of the messages he sent were just disgusting, you couldn't even put them public they were that nasty. So we had to come out and defend ourselves, so we responded in a very positive way. Why doesn't he say 'let's have another spar again, let's see who is the boss'? We now know that he can't handle pressure."
Stevie on a future fight between him and Garcia…
"It’s personal yes…I’d love to get him. I’d bash him up. I'd get into the ring with him right now, a big payday is nothing to do with this, I just want to sort something out with this guy."
Stevie Campbell vs Garcia…
"Having sparred with Garcia, I think Campbell will win."
WATCH the full interview here:
Managed by Ken Sheer, the unbeaten Irishman has KO'd all five of his foes so far, with just making it past the first round. The 23-year-old talent, known as the 'Hitman', is now trying to follow up on the successful sparring to land a fight with the Californian.
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