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Looking at their respective
records, it might seem a
pre-arranged win for 25-year-old
French light welterweight Yvan
Mendy, however the 15-16 record
of his opponent Peter McDonagh
is quite deceiving.
This Bermondsey-based Irish
battler is a typical
representative of the old
stubborn pros, who regardless
the opponent give their best
before winning or very
reluctantly go down on points,
as was the case when in April
last year he challenged European
top-rated ‘Lightning’ Lenny Daws
for the vacant English
light-welterweight title.
Only once the 32-year-old
McDonagh failed to go the
distance. This was February 2008
in his quest for the European
Union light welterweight
championship against highly
touted and far more experienced
Italian Giuseppe Lauri (then
with 44 wins and only 6 losses),
when a nasty cut prevented him
from continuing and the fight
was stopped in the 6th
round.
When he squares off against
hometown kid Yvan Mendy, he’s
again without home town
advantage. Not that it worries
him. According to McDonagh:
“Story of my life.” Early last
April Mendy got a severe warning
from ‘The Connemara Kid’
McDonagh as in the MEN Arena in
Manchester he beat French
champion Christophe Sebire, who
with 20 wins and only 3 losses
was a sure bet for a win.
This Sebire is not just a name
without significance, as
he once beat Abdoulaye Soukouna.
To the average fight fan
Soukouna may not be a very
household name, but he happened
to be the guy who surprisingly
snatched the unbeaten streak of
Mendy after 12 straight wins!
Since this setback, Mendy came
back very strongly, with 7 wins
in a row. Let’s see who’s arms
go up after the hostilities have
ended and the powder smoke has
been cleared.
This fight for the WBF
Intercontinental light
welterweight title on June 4
will be Mendy’s 13th
fight at the Salle Léo Lagrange
in Point Sainte Maxcene, France.
Socialist and idealist Léo
Lagrange was co-organiser of the
Peoples Olympics in 1936, to
counter the 1936 Berlin Olympic
Games, which were too much a
propaganda instrument of Nazism.
At the age of 40, Lagrange laid
down his life on June 9, 1940 in
Picardy, Northern France, when
fighting the same Nazis.
See Promo Video
HERE |
