Reynolds calls out Murtagh by Paul Concannon Mar 1st 2007

Mark Bateson, manager of Leeds' light-middleweight prospect Danny Reynolds, has today announced his fighter's challenge to compatriot Lee Murtagh. If everything goes to plan, Bateson will be looking to match the two Leeds' southpaws over ten rounds for the British masters belt. The bout looks like a natural, featuring an undefeated up-and coming banger against a smooth boxing veteran with a ton of experience. The problem is, Bateson is currently less than convinced that Murtagh fancies the job, “I have spoken with Lee's trainer Mark McCreath and his manager Dave Coldwell and have been told, pretty much that Lee doesn't want to take the fight,” he told Britishboxing.net. Mark is quick to point out he's not trying to trump-up a local rivalry, ”Both Danny and I like and respect Lee, he's a good, smooth boxer, he's fought some good guys and had some cracking wins, but he did say in an interview last year that Danny was pretty much a four-round fighter at that stage, so I don't understand why he isn't ready to take the fight.” Bateson also suspects a series of tough sparring sessions between Reynolds and Murtagh may be still fresh in Lee's mind. Murtagh, however, feels he has other fish to fry, “My goal, as I stated when we spoke last year, is to fight for and win the Irish title. That means everything to me, with my family being Irish and with my strong roots over there. The good news is, it's looking like that's a strong possibility, almost 99% in fact – I should be in a position to confirm that soon.” Veteran campaigner Murtagh has nothing against Reynolds, but feels, with the sun setting on his commendable career, that the Central Area and British Masters title fights don't provide the necessary motivation while his spotlight is shone firmly on the Irish belt, “I have won two Central Area titles and already won the British Masters title twice; most people can't even say may name, let alone spell it, but I have been around, and the situation is similar to when the Central Area confirmed me to defend against Manoo Salari without my say so, I was put on the posters for a show I never agreed to fight on, which I was pretty disgusted at. “The Irish title means everything to me, so right now, the Reynolds fight is not a fight that I need,” he said. Upon hearing Murtagh's side of the story, Bateson conceded, “Fair comment, Lee's probably right, Danny Reynolds is likely a fight that he definitely doesn't need at this stage of his career; all I would say is that any time Lee fancies the fight, it's there for him, and if he feels Danny's lack of experience put him out of his (Murtagh's) league, then hopefully he'll be willing to step up at some stage, because Danny most certainly is.”

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