Tony Milch set to fight for Southern Area title

Tony Milch says his Southern Area Super welterweight title against Matt McCarthy has been a fight that’s been “four years in the making”.

The Finchley-based fighter goes into the 14 October fight at the York Hall unbeaten in his 13 previous professional fights, though concedes this will be by far his biggest test to date.

He said: “100 percent this will be my toughest fight so far. It’s the big one and the one I’ve been working on for a few years.

“He’s got a good record, having won 17 of his 18 fights. I’ve won all of mine so they’re putting us together. We were always going to fight each other, but when the belt became vacant, they said this was a fight worthy of it.

“I knew I had this big fight coming up and when they said it would be for the Southern Area title, I just thought wow – that is literally something I grew up watching – and now I’m actually going to be fighting for it. It represents all the fighters in the South of England and is really, just a step away from the British title.”

Upping his conditioning with it being a ten-round fight, he’s training up to three times a day. Confident he can go up to the next level, he said “At my last fight, I wanted to progress and to me this is the next step of the challenge. I can’t keep having these small fights all the time, I’m very confident I can produce a great performance, I’m ready to go all ten rounds, or if I knock him out sooner I’ll take that!

“The last fight I showed some defensive skills, before that I was coming forward, taking the punches and I got the knockout, so it was two completely different fights. I’ve shown I can box from the back and also on the front foot, this fight I’ll be going in strong. If the knockout comes, it comes, but I’m really looking for a good performance.

“I’ve been training for this fight for four years. I turned pro in July 2013 so this has been a fight, four years in the making.”

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