COMMONWEALTH Games participant Lennon Mulligan says he can’t wait to pull on the international vest and put on a show in front of his home fans tomorrow night.
The 20-year-old will be co-headlining the bill as Scotland take on Ireland in a dual international at Ravenscraig Regional Sports Facility in Motherwell, with the boxing getting underway from 7pm.
This will be the Castlemilk boxer’s first time competing on Scottish soil since boxing at last summer’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
The 20-year-old fought twice at the Games, defeating Eriu Temakau from Kiribati in the Round of 16, before losing out to eventual Gold medal winner Amit Panghal from India in the Quarter-Finals.
The Rob Roy boxer will be facing fellow 2022 Commonwealth Games participant Clepson Dos Santos, who also lost in the Flyweight Quarter-Finals while representing Northern Ireland to eventual Bronze medal winner Jake Dodd of Wales.
“It will be good to box in Scotland again, the last time was just over a year ago against England in a dual at our High Performance Centre,” Lennon said.
“I won then, so I will be looking for the same again this weekend and to impress in front of my home fans.
“I know my opponent tomorrow night well from the Commonwealth Games and he also went out in the Quarter-Finals.
“I was gutted at the time not to medal at the Games, but looking back now it was two good fights and I done my all in the ring.
“It just wasn’t good enough on the day.
“The Indian boxer was good and tricky, but if I fight him again it will be a different story.
“I am improving all the time.”
That improvement has been noted with Lennon being one of three Scottish boxers, alongside Bantamweight Aaron Cullen (Renfrewshire) and Light-Welterweight Luke Bibby (Perth Railway), to currently be on assessment to potentially join the GB Boxing Squad in Sheffield.
Commonwealth Games Gold medal winners Reese Lynch and Sam Hickey are currently the only two Scottish boxers on the GB Boxing Podium Squad.
“It has been good, it is always hard sparring down there,” Lennon added of his recent assessments down in Sheffield.
“We were meant to be down there again this week, but obviously we have the Ireland international.
“So I think I will be back down there next month after I go to a competition in Lithuania for my third assessment.
“My goal is to go down there. That is where you want to be as an amateur boxer.
“It would be good to have more Scottish boxers down there as well.”
Lennon will be topping the bill alongside fellow GB Boxing hopeful Luke Bibby tomorrow night, with 13 Youth & Elite bouts currently scheduled to take place.
Tickets for the dual international are priced at £25 and can be bought either at the door of the event (doors open 6:30pm, start time 7pm) or beforehand directly from the participating Scottish boxers.
Alternatively, tickets will be able to bought earlier on the day of Saturday 18th March at the Youth & Elite Golden Gloves Championships (which start at 11am at Ravenscraig) for just £5 for those who also buy a one or two-day ticket for those Championships.
Additionally, the event will also be streamed live on Facebook in partnership with JATV Live for £1.99.
Please note, the café at Ravenscraig will be open from 6-10pm serving snacks and soft drinks, although no alcohol will be available for purchase at this event.
Scotland v Ireland Dual International Running Order for Saturday 18th March. Boxing gets underway from 7pm;
Bout 1 – Elite Flyweight, Aqeel Ahmed (Scotland) v Padraig Downey (Ireland)
Bout 2 – Youth Lightweight, Leo Church (Scotland) v Fionn Duffy (Ireland)
Bout 3 – Youth Light-Welterweight, Sonny Kerr (Scotland) v Ronnan Love (Ireland)
Bout 4 – Youth Cruiserweight, Josh Mullen (Scotland) v Anthony Taggart (Ireland)
Bout 5 – Youth Lightweight, Patrick Paton (Scotland) v Bernie Stokes (Ireland)
Bout 6 – Youth Welterweight, Drew Limond (Scotland) v Kyle Smith (Ireland)
Bout 7 – Elite Light-Middleweight, Harry McGrenra (Scotland) v Jon McConnel (Ireland)
Bout 8 – Elite Bantamweight, Stephanie Kernachan (Scotland) v Nicole Clyde (Ireland)
Bout 9 – Elite Lightweight, Isa Akram (Scotland) v Rhys Owens (Ireland)
Bout 10 – Elite Lightweight, Nick Devlin (Scotland) v Lee McKee (Ireland)
Bout 11 – Youth Featherweight, Taylor Gough (Scotland) v Casey Walsh (Ireland)
Bout 12 – Elite Flyweight, Lennon Mulligan (Scotland) v Clepson Dos Santos (Ireland)
Bout 13 – Elite Light-Welterweight, Luke Bibby (Scotland) v Anthony Malnaphy (Ireland)
*Card subject to change.
