While many eyes will be on what happens at the top of the card, a middleweight crossroads bout could steal Friday’s show at the Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Vito Mielnicki Jnr will make his middleweight debut against Connor Coyle and both enter the contest with the exact same number of professional fights: 21. Mielnicki Jnr, who signed with Top Rank last year, has only one loss on his record, which was to James Martin in 2021. Mielnicki, a 22-year-old from Roseland, New Jersey, who is sure to have a lot of local support on fight night, trains in Texas with Ronnie Shields. After nearly two years at junior middleweight, Mielnicki will be moving up to middleweight for the first time as a pro against Coyle.
“This is definitely my toughest test on paper,” Mielnicki said at Wednesday’s press conference. “I’m just excited to show what I’ve been working on and how I’ve grown as a fighter. I’m going to put on a dominant performance on Friday.”
Coyle has seen his fair share of tough calls in the sport. He was set to face Felix Cash before that fight was called off. He was then going to fight Austin “Ammo” Williams but got hurt. Coyle has built himself up on smaller shows, but has yet to get the chance to make the jump to the world-class level. Coyle, the 34-year-old from Derry, North Ireland, explained the road he has had to travel.
“I was looking for bigger fights and I never got them. It is not like I was ducking and dodging people,” Coyle, 21-0 (9 KOs), said at the press conference. “Whoever was put in front of me, I had to fight.”
Coyle also noted that he had a three-month training camp in Florida away from his children. Coyle explained it was the toughest camp of his career, both physically and mentally. Coyle’s last fight was in August when he defeated Kyle Lomotey by decision in the United Kingdom.
“This is my opportunity,” Coyle said. “I am going to show it on Friday night.”
Mielnicki is coming off a majority decision win over Khalil El Harraz in September. The bout wasn’t his strongest performance and was his second fight with Top Rank. Mielnicki is looking to make a name for himself by entering a new division.
“You just have to take it fight by fight and the media is going to judge you off your last performance,” Mielnicki, 20-1 (12 KOs) said of his last fight. “It wasn’t my greatest night in the office, but my goal Friday night is to eliminate that memory.”
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