There have been times when the phrase “He can always rebuild at British level” was a perfectly valid point. It is becoming increasingly redundant.
After making the most British debut imaginable against Ed Harrison, Peter McGrail learned his trade against a succession of tough Nicaraguans, Mexicans and Argentineans and squeezed in trips to Japan, Dubai and America.
McGrail, 9-1 (5 KOs), and his team certainly weren’t avoiding the domestic scene. The 28-year-old junior featherweight spent years competing against the very best as an amateur and turned professional with an outstanding reputation. The decision was made to fast track him up the world rankings.
Things went smoothly until he ran into a massive right hand from Ja’Rico Quinn and lost his unbeaten record in Arizona last December.
While McGrail was making his way in the world, his British rivals engaged in the type of round robin that young, unknown fighters must survive if they are to prove themselves worthy of serious backing.
The confident and well-rounded Liam Davies has put together an outstanding run and cracked any world top 10 list worth its salt whilst the precocious Dennis McCann has grown and matured into a very solid operator.
Initially, the plan was for McGrail to instantly set the record straight against Quinn but the Detroit man’s late withdrawal from their scheduled rematch set him on a different path. He dipped his toe back into the choppy domestic waters by comfortably outboxing former British champion, Marc Leach, in April and gets his shoulders wet this weekend when he takes on another former Lonsdale Belt holder, Brad Foster, 15-3-2 (5 KOs).
Rumors abound that should McGrail beat Foster this weekend, he will plunge directly into a major British and European title fight with McCann. At the moment, Davies remains a step ahead but certainly isn’t shy about getting involved if there are titles and money on the table.
This isn’t a case of McGrail admitting defeat and dropping back down to British level. If anything, he has stepped up.
He can’t wait to get involved.
“Yeah definitely, I just listen to my team, my management, my promoters at the time and mainly my coaches, Paul [Stevenson] and Anthony [Humphreys]. They decide what fight and route to go but I just train every day, learn as much as we can and fight,” McGrail told BoxingScene.
“At that time I was going through the WBA route and I think I was number 10 as I was fighting Ja’Rico and then obviously got beat. I don’t know whether I lost my ranking but I’m back at number 14 with them but then I’ve been ordered to fight McCann now and this is a final eliminator for the British so the domestic route seems like a no-brainer to go to down.
“Me and Foster is a brilliant fight for me. He’s been in with a few good kids so it’s time to put a good statement on for myself and then further fights in the future are obviously the likes of McCann and that so that is probably the route we’re going to go down.
“It’s a route that I’m excited to go down. You could go down the world route and but never ever fight for the British or European or anything but the people could always say that you weren’t the best in Britain because you didn’t win the British title but that’s what’s looking to happen now.”
Money is obviously the driving factor behind the sudden determination to put together top level domestic fights but there does seem to be a collective willingness to match British fighters against each other at all levels.
2024 has seen a long string of outstanding area, English and British title fights and last weekend’s massive show at Wembley Stadium highlighted fighters who have made it to the grandest stage of all by winning tough fights with equally determined rivals.
Willy Hutchinson took his profile to a new level by beating Craig Richards and his star won’t fall too far following his entertaining loss to Joshua Buatsi while Anthony Cacace’s wins over Joe Cordina and Josh Warrington have given a talented fighter the stage his talents have deserved for a long time. Josh Padley gave his own meandering career a massive shot in the arm by agreeing to a dangerous fight with Mark Chamberlain and then upsetting the Portsmouth man. Chamberlain himself made his name by stepping up and stopping Gavin Gwynne.
McGrail finds himself in a division which offers him the opportunity to build both his world ranking and profile.
“Me against Dennis or me against Davies – or even me against Foster – but more so me against Dennis or Liam Davies, the British fans are gonna show up and be a lot more interested than if I was in against some mad Puerto Rican or Argentinian that no one knew [in an eliminator],” McGrail said. “Even though that fight probably means more because you’re next in line for a world title, the likes of those fights gets more people talking about you and it builds your profile so that’s what I’m looking forward to.
“There’s some big fights coming but for now, for the last few weeks and obviously up until the 28th of September I’ve just been focused on Brad Foster and getting myself in the best condition I can be in and looking forward to putting a show on for everyone.
“Everyone knows deep down who the boy is in the UK and I’m looking to show that over my next two fights and then obviously we’ll go from there but, for now, we’ve got two weeks on Saturday and I’m back in the ring, back under the lights and I’m going to be enjoying myself. I can’t wait.”
John Evans has contributed to a number of well-known publications and websites for over a decade. You can follow John on X @John_Evans79
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