Peter McGrail has not had the best luck in trying to get one of his domestic rivals in the ring.
Twice he has completed training camp, only to have the fight called off at the final hour. The first was against then-British and European junior featherweight champion Dennis McCann, who tested positive for multiple performance enhancing drugs during fight week, and was subsequently pulled from the card. Then his clash with IBO 118lb titleholder Shabaz Masoud was postponed back in June due to Masoud’s arm injury. Luckily for McGrail, this bout was rescheduled, and he will finally get Masoud this Saturday in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
“I'm a lot more prepared, maybe than I was for the last fight, through a few things here and there,” McGrail told BoxingScene. “I believe the person sat here today is a completely different person than I was meant to be in the last fight against Shabaz. I've been flying in the gym, feeling strong. I’m ready. I feel like I was ready two weeks ago really. I just can't wait for Saturday, it's going to be a special one.”
Back in June, when the original slated bout with Masoud collapsed, McGrail was given the tough task of facing late-replacement Ionut Baluta – a man who has defeated multiple McGrail stablemates at the Everton Red Triangle gym.
“He's just unpredictable. I didn't know what he was doing,” McGrail said. “The shots were coming from all mad angles. He's just a proper unconventional guy. But, you know, we got the job done. I was happy he stepped in, to be fair, because I wouldn't have been able to get another fight. So I'm lucky on that side of things, but I have obviously been unlucky in ways. I should have got the [Dennis] McCann fight. I should have got the Shabaz [Masoud] fight, but it worked out for the best. We're out here in Monte Carlo, there's not many better places for a European title, so that's what we're doing.”
McGrail and Masoud will contest for the vacant EBU European 118lb title, but Masoud’s IBO title will not be on the line after the governing body refused to sanction their “world title” alongside a domestic belt. The IBO consider their title a legitimate championship, alongside the WBA, WBC, WBO and IBF straps. Many disagree.
“Obviously, on paper, you're still a world champion, aren't you?” McGrail said. “I've watched [Manny] Pacquiao lift the belt, I've watched [Anthony] Joshua lift an IBO belt, but the bigger money's in the other belts, isn't it? So, we're going for them as well. And that's what you build a legacy on, [winning] as many world titles as you can, don't you? So, on paper, you're still a world champion, but you'd be looking for the bigger fights with them other belts too.”
The owner of those other titles is none other than undisputed junior featherweight champion Naoya Inoue. He will defend all four against David Picasso on December 27, and, should he win, take on Japanese rival Junto Nakatani in May in Tokyo, Japan. If McGrail gets a shot at world honours, it looks like he’ll be heading to the Far East.
“I've already been over there twice as well,” McGrail said. “Once for the [2020] Olympics and then [on the undercard] when [Paul] Butler boxed Inoue. So, obviously going over there, that's nothing new. That was a mad experience, but it was a belter, and I can't wait to get back over there, to be honest.”
Some would think that McGrail has unfinished business in Japan after unexpectedly being eliminated from the Tokyo Olympic Games in his first contest.
“Yeah, you could say that,” said McGrail. “Well, that's what was getting said in my last fight [in Japan]. I know it was only against a journeyman over there. In my head, at that Olympics, at that time, every tournament I was always on the podium. I don't think I ever got beat in my first fight, in any tournament ever, really. I was flying in the gym, but I obviously got beat against Chatchai Butdee, good fighter, good experienced fighter, but I'd sparred him as well. I did have unfinished business, but we sort of settled that when I got to Japan and KO'd that kid last time, but I'm more than happy to get back over to Japan, whenever.”
McGrail’s gym-mate and good friend Andrew Cain is also hunting down a world title. The WBC bantamweight belt is currently held by Takuma Inoue, Naoya’s younger brother. The two friends, theoretically, could both be heading to Tokyo to take on an Inoue – and maybe on the same show.
“Not half, that's what's coming,” McGrail said. “That's a little bit further on. I'm just focused on Shabaz Masoud.”
