Boxing: Wayne McCullough will have his first fight in Belfast since boxing as an amateur when he takes on Hungary's Sandor Koczak in the Ulster Hall on October 20th. The Barcelona silver medallist and former World Boxing Council (WBC) bantamweight champion recently signed a three-fight deal with Dan Goosen of America Presents.
McCullough, who became the first Irish fighter to hold the WBC title in 1995 before relinquishing it in January 1997, has since challenged unsuccessfully for three world titles.
He fought Daniel Zaragoza for the WBC super-bantamweight title in January 1997 but lost on a split decision, took Britain's Naseem Hamed the distance before narrowly losing his WBO featherweight title challenge and lost again to Erik Morales, taking him the distance for the first time in a championship fight.
While McCullough's best years may be behind him, he is still ranked highly in some of the current boxing magazines. The Ring have McCullough at five in their list, with only the four world champions above him, while the WBC have him ranked at four. Ring magazine recently recognised McCullough as having the "best chin" in boxing, a quality he hopes not to bring into play when facing the reputedly hard-hitting Koczak.
Koczak has a record of 18 fights, one defeat and nine KOs. That one defeat - last year over 10 rounds to Simon Ramoni - is the only time he has gone the distance. Currently the Hungarian champion, Koczak at 27 is four years younger than McCullough and turned professional in 1997. It is hoped that the three-fight deal signed by the Irishman will take him to a world title fight next year.
Programme: Wayne McCullough (N Ire) v Sandor Koczak (Hun); Featherweight (10 rounds): Mark Riggs (NI) v Eric Jakubowski (Ind); Welterweight (10 rds): Jim Rock (Irl) v Brooke Wellby (Can); Middleweight (8 rds): Gary Hamilton (NI) v Ivan Ovanesov (Bul);
Lightweight (6x2): Adrian Kirkbride (N Ire) v Djemal Mekhmedo v (Bul);
Light-middleweight (6x3): Stevie Quinn (N Ire) v Mihad Iousseinov (Bul); Bantamweight (4x3 or 6x3): Women - Welterweight (6x2): Deidre Nelson (N Ire) v Tzanka Karova (Bul). Tickets available from Ticketmaster.
Sports seminar: NUI Galway have attracted two leading names to their second annual Sports Medicine Seminar, which takes place at the university this weekend.
Ireland's Dr Pat O'Neill will be joined by Dr Lyle Micheli of the Boston Children's Hospital for the two-day seminar. Dr O'Neill will open the proceedings on Friday with his presentation on "Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries" - one of the worst injuries in a sporting professionals career.
Dr Micheli's presentation will be on "Overuse Injuries in the Young Athlete". There will also be a number of workshops on prevention and treatment of sporting injuries of interest to coaches, managers and individual athletes.
Snooker: Former world champion John Parrott, who has shed 30lbs during the summer, was beaten 5-2 by Joe Perry in the second round of the £440,000 British Open at Plymouth yesterday.
"I felt very enthusiastic out there," Parrott said. "Although I'm disappointed to lose I feel better about this season than I did for the last two."
Another seed, world number 16 Joe Swail, was also sent packing. Swail, a surprise semi-finalist in the Embassy World Championship last April, was beaten 5-2 by Robert Milkins, the world number 75.
Motor Sport: Colin McRae will go under the surgeon's knife on Monday to repair the double fracture of his cheekbone which he sustained in last weekend's horrific accident during the Tour of Corsica.
The Scottish rally driver is recovering well since crashing his Ford Martini in which he fractured bones beneath his left eye and bruised a lung.
Weekend GAA Fixtures
Saturday
All-Ireland SFC final replay - Kerry v Galway, Croke Park, 3.30, M White (Wexford).
Sunday
International Rules Series - Ireland v Australia, Croke Park, 3.0, P McEnaney (Monaghan) and B Allen (Australia).
