Tyrone McCullagh to transform from Court Jester to King of the Ring in semi-final clash

The Derry southpaw caused quite a sensation when he turned up to the Sky Sports televised press conference alongside, Tyrone McKenna dressed as Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne, characters from 1990s hit comedy classic, Dumb and Dumber as they veered dramatically off-script.

Their entertaining mock fight with wands certainly broke up the monotony of the ‘boring’ fight-week routine. It was a bit of harmless fun from the ‘two Tyrones’ who have been innovative sellers of themselves over recent years, perhaps following in the footsteps of Tyson Fury who famously dressed as Batman for his press conference with Wladimir Klitschko.

This latest imaginative stunt certainly lit up the otherwise mundane press conference as both fighters’ profiles continue to rise as much for their bizarre antics outside the ring as their ring-craft, but now it’s down to the serious business as they look for a place in their respective finals.

“It was a good laugh,” said McCullagh. “These opportunities don’t come along too often when you get on Sky Sports and have press conferences on Sky Sports so you need to enjoy yourself and make the most of them.

“The show is already sold out in the York Hall so it’s just about having a bit of craic. When Friday comes I will flip the switch and it will all get a bit serious. The days are long here, especially during fight week and you need something to pass the time and enjoy it.

“It’s just to be a bit different. Everybody does the same thing during fight week. The pressers usually go off without a hitch and people say the same things, maybe create a bit of fake tension which isn’t there so I just want to enjoy it.

“It’s a short career, boxing, and you never know how many times you will get opportunities like these so why not? We’re like the real life Dumb and Dumber, myself and Tyrone McKenna, we’re missing flights all the time and getting into trouble so we thought we’d do that for a bit of craic.”

WBO European super-bantamweight champion, McCullagh certainly isn’t a novelty act and while he’s considered the novice among the four remaining fighters, he’s confident he can upset the odds and secure his passage into the final at the expense of the owner of the Lonsdale belt.

He reckons he’s got ‘nothing to lose and everything to gain’ as he attempts to beat a man who will duck under the top rope for his 30th professional fight at Bethnal Green on Friday night.

Walsh has fought twice as many times as a pro as McCullagh (14-0-0) has and the fact the Englishman chose to fight the man dubbed ‘White Chocolate’ when he picked out the Golden Ball at Tuesday’s draw would suggest he’s confident the Derry man was his easiest path to the final.

“I’m the novice out of the three semi-finalists. They are all either approaching 30 fights or over. I’m on 14 so I think that’s maybe why he picked me.”

And McCullagh is content on playing the role of the underdog.

“I have no doubt Ryan Walsh has prepared to the best he can, he’s a great fighter. I know I’m up against it. It will be my hardest fight to date, by a mile. He’s the tournament favourite never mind the favourite for this fight.

“Most people will be thinking it will be a straightforward night for him and it should be. That suits me. I’m happy to be the underdog. The way I see it is I’ve got nothing to lose.

“He picked me. He’s the tournament favourite. I’ve got everything to gain and nothing to lose. I’ll make it a hard night’s work for him one way or another.”

The British featherweight title isn’t on the line in Friday’s fight but that’s not an issue for McCullagh who isn’t interested.

“The British Boxing Board have check weigh-ins to do and need more notice if they want the likes of the British and Commonwealth titles to be on the line,” he explained. “That doesn’t matter to me anyway. I wouldn’t have fought for it no matter what. So it doesn’t bother me that it’s not on the line - he can keep it!”

Stylistically, it has the hallmarks to be an intriguing match-up but McCullagh reckons Walsh hasn’t been in with a boxer like him before.

“I don’t know how he can say he’s sparred people like me because there’s not too many boxers that are like me style-wise. So that could have just been an excuse to why he picked me in the draw.

“Obviously he thinks I’m a bit negative but that’s the way I fight. If I think I can win rounds by a punch or two then fine. My old coach always used to say to me to win the rounds by doing as little as you can. If you win the round by 15 punches or one punch it’s still a 10/9 round.

“So it will be interesting to see what way he approaches the fight. If he comes out walking forward. I watched a bit of him against the Cuban (Hairon Socarras) and he wasn’t marching forward the way I thought he would. There was a lot of feinting. He wasn’t going backwards but he wasn’t going forwards. He was waiting to counter I think. I have a feeling he will try the same against me. It would be very silly of him if he just puts his hands up and starts walking forward.”

McCullagh puts his unbeaten record on the line tonight but he’s confident.

“No one is unbeatable and I do make mistakes but I’m undefeated and hopefully come Friday night I still will be.”

“I know I’m in for a tough night’s work. I respect him but hopefully I’m a banana skin for him. If I box to the best of my ability I can beat him.”