Edinburgh fighter McGregor upbeat despite Covid setback

Edinburgh fighter Lee McGregor says he’ll be ready whenever he’s called upon after his European bantamweight title fight was postponed for a second time.

He was due to take on Karim Guerfi later this month but the British Boxing Board of Control have cancelled all of their January fights because of the increase in cases around the country.

It’s not the happy new year McGregor was hoping for but he’s staying positive despite this latest setback.

He was originally due to take on Guerfi back in November, but that was called off after McGregor tested positive for coronavirus.

And while he’s disappointed by the second postponement, he understands why it had to happen.

He said: “It was a big blow finding out that the fight wasn’t happening again – for the second time – but I’m just trying to stay as positive as I can.

“It was sort of in the back of my mind throughout the training camp. Everything was going so well, everything was too good to be true. I said to my team that I’m not going to get excited until I’m walking into the ring through the ropes because it’s so unpredictable at the moment.

“The government have made it clear that they were going to allow professional sport to continue as long as all the right protocols were getting followed, which was the case with professional boxing, so I was quite hopeful that the fight would happen.

“It’s the British Boxing Board of Control that has made the decision, not the government. I think it’s just with this new strain. the pressure on the NHS and their staff, they’re needing the month of January to regroup and hopefully we can get back up and running in February.”

McGregor says he’ll be ready for whenever the fight takes place but admits the tough training schedule does take its toll.

The British Boxing Board of Control will review their stance later this month – and until then McGregor says he will keep putting in the hours.

He said: “I’m actually a lot more positive and feel a lot better about (the cancellation) than the first time, which is strange.

“With the first fight falling through, it gave me more time with my coach, Ben. We’ve clicked even more, the tactics that we’ll be using for the fight and the game plan came together in the past couple of weeks.

“I’ve been saying to myself it’s a blessing that the November fight fell through because now going into January, I’m much better prepared than I was for the November fight.

“It’s mentally challenging as well as physically because you’re preparing your mind for the fight. You’re constantly dieting, bringing your weight down, making all these sacrifices, which I did over Christmas and New Year.

“It’s tough but we need to keep on it because every couple of weeks there are new announcements. It could be sprung on us that the new date is (the) start of February, which is only another couple of weeks, so I can’t afford to take my foot off the gas.

“I need to stay on it, stay professional, which I am, and I’ll be more than ready for whenever the new date is.”