Hyland hungry for an upset

Hyland hungry for an upset

By Stephen Leonard

PATRICK Hyland insists Gary Russell jnr will have survive a war with him if he is to hold on to his WBC World Featherweight belt.

The title fight was re-fixed for Saturday, April 16 in Foxwoods Resort, Connecticut and Hyland is hoping to upset the books when he faces the American southpaw.

Patrick Hyland resized

While he is 26 and 1, Russell has not fought since winning the strap against Jhonny Gonzalez almost a year ago and Hyland is hoping he can capitalise on that.

“I know he [Russell] is a special talent, but I’m going to be questioning his heart and desire to defend that title.

“I’m going to leave no stone unturned in my preparation for this fight and I’m prepared to kill or be killed for that world title.

“There’s no pressure on me. I’m just an opponent that they’ve hand-picked, thinking that it’ll be an easy title defence, but everyone who knows me, knows I’ll be giving it everything.

“For me fighting for a world title is everything.

“This is his first title defence and he’s been out of the ring since March of last year, so there could be that bit of ring rustiness that could work for me.

“Russell will be coming out fast. He’ll be looking to use his hand speed to good effect.

“I’m not the quickest of boxers, so I’ll be looking to break him down and really question his desire.

“I’m gonna be looking to bang him hard on the head, on the body, all over, I don’t care. I’ve just gotta land those hard blows.”

Hyland, who came up short when he fought Javier Fortuna for the WBA World Featherweight title back in 2012, is confident he will make a much better go of it against Russell next month.

“I did learn a lot from the Fortuna fight.

“When I look back on it, I think that if I’d pressed him more and thrown more punches I could have won that title” he insisted.

TAGS
Share This