I’M SAUL SHOOK UP
Lee studies Canelo in bid to stun Guerfi
LEE McGREGOR insists he’s ready to blast his way to world level after swotting up on ring king Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.
The Edinburgh ace has been studying the Mexican superstar ahead of tonight’s European bantamweight title clash with Karim Guerfi.
Alvarez is rated as the pound for pound best on the planet and McGregor is convinced victory this evening in Bolton will catapult him to the verge of a world title shot.
He wants to follow pal Josh Taylor to Las Vegas and said: “I never really watched much boxing until I joined up with Ben Davison and now I’m studying it all the time.
“My favourite fighter is Canelo Alvarez by a country mile. I’m constantly watching his fights every day.
“There should be signs of that in my performance tonight. It’s life-changing if I win this so there’s no way I’m going to balloon up in weight.
“I’ll be straight back on it. I’m so pleased with the improvements I’ve been making and I don’t want to stop. If I get through this one then who knows what might happen?
“Before I teamed up with Ben I’d have said I was a good bit away from being a worldlevel fighter. But I reckon after tonight I’ll have a different answer. I’m in such a good position.
“With the
IBF I’m ranked fourth in the world, Paul Butler is at three, nobody is at two and No.1 is Michael Dasmarinas, the mandatory for Naoya Inoue.
“Inoue will win that one and there’s talk he may vacate and move up. Next in line could be the winner of this fight tonight versus Butler for a world title.
“That’s unbelievable. It’s within touching distance if I get through it, so this fight is life-changing for me. One million per cent. So many doors will open if I’m victorious. That’s why I’ll leave everything in the ring.”
McGregor hoovered up the
British and Commonwealth titles inside just nine fights – and has been forced to cancel tonight’s showdown three times due to Covid-19. But the former amateur star remains a man in a hurry and he’s determined to make a statement against Guerfi. McGregor said: “I’ve made it clear I’m willing to take risks. If you do that, you’ll get rewards. My career’s moved at a fast pace until this point. “I’m in my hotel room with my three belts – British, Commonwealth and the IBF youth title I won in my fourth fight. Now I want the blue European one to go with it. “If I could have those four belts within 10 fights aged 24 ... Coach Barry Smith, Ben’s assistant, said to me he’d never heard of that from someone with just 10 fights. “Tonight people are going to see a huge difference in my performance. It’s going to be so much more clinical.
“The improvements I’ve made under Ben and Lee Wylie, the video analyst, have been remarkable. But my actions will speak for themselves in the ring.”
European champ Guerfi has held this belt on four separate occasions and is renowned for loving a battle.
McGregor has never been scared of a scrap and added: “He’s 34 and a lot more experienced than me.
“He thinks he’s just coming in with a young boy in front of him. But when that first bell goes he’ll get the biggest shock of his life.
“I have a lot of respect for him too. I know it’s going to be a hard fight. He’s only been beaten by world-level guys and he was in those fights. It won’t be easy for me but I’m ready for it.
“It has to be mature from me. I’ll fight at the right times, I’ll box at the right times and I’ll control how it goes. It will be a disciplined performance on my terms.
“He likes a fight and that will play into my hands. I’m going to be sensible.”
GreGor ToWNSeND has rolled the dice with his team selection for Scotland’s crunch clash with Italy at Murrayfield tomorrow.
The coach has made nine changes to the XV that started last Sunday against Ireland, with seven new faces added to the team plus Stuart Hogg and Sean Maitland shifting positions.
The decision to move Hogg from full-back to stand-off is bold but Townsend has backed his skipper to play with the same attacking flair as Finn Russell, who misses out with concussion.
Townsend said: “Stuart covered 10 after Finn came off last week and has covered there in previous games so we believe that gives us a better balance to the team and we’re keen to see him play there.
“Stuart is one of the best full-backs in the world and has been in great form this year but given his experience, leadership, ability and all-round skill-set, we see him being able to cover other positions as required.
“We’ll play with a similar mindset and strategy to what we’ve had so far. A lot of that is where the space is, how to create that space, by moving the ball in a certain way, or through a smart kicking game. We back Stuart to be able to do that for us at No.10.”
Hogg’s half-back partner will be Scott Steele, who will wear the Scotland No.9 jersey for the first time.
Townsend added “Scott has come off the bench on three occasions but only once at scrum-half and that performance was excellent at Twickenham when he helped control those last 10-15 minutes.”
Townsend has gone with Huw Jones’ attacking flair at outside centre ahead of Chris Harris’ solidity. He said: “Huw has earned his right by performances at 13 for Glasgow and his impact off the bench when he scored the try last week.”
Darcy Graham is on the wing with Zander Fagerson back from a ban. Dave Cherry comes in for George Turner while Grant Gilchrist and Sam Skinner replace the injured Scott Cummings and Jonny Gray.
● Scotland’s clash with France – postponed after a Covid outbreak – will finally kick-off a week today in the Stade de France at 8pm.
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PAUL POGBA turned on the style in the fashion capital of the world to sink AC Milan and keep Manchester United’s Europa League dream alive.
The French enigma scored with almost his first touch as a second-half sub to fire United into the quarter-finals.
Pogba had been sidelined for the last six weeks with a hamstring problem – but you wouldn’t have known.
The midfielder turned the game on its head in the San Siro with a cool finish on 48 minutes to drag United through a tie in which they were second best for large spells.
Team-mate Luke Shaw admitted: “It always helps to have a world-class player like Paul to make a difference and he did that. But we know we need to be better than tonight.
“The positive is that we are through, we have players coming back and the squad looks better.”
Milan were boosted by Zlatan Ibrahimovich returning ahead of schedule from a thigh problem but he slumped to defeat against his old club after coming off the bench in the second half.
Bruno Fernandes wasted the first chance when Shaw set him up and he blazed a shot high and wide from a good position. Considering United had to score, the lack of urgency in their attacking play was alarming, with Milan content to soak up the pressure and hit United on the break when the chance arose.
It almost led to a goal on 40 minutes when Alexis Saelemaekers tested Henderson with a powerful drive before Rade Krunic pulled a shot wide.
Milan looked in total control and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer threw on Pogba at the break in the hope he could spark United into life.
It looked like a stroke of genius within three minutes.
Milan failed to clear a loose ball and Pogba pounced to fool keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma with a subtle feint, before burying his shot into the back of the net.
Milan boss Stefano Pioli sent on Ibrahimovich with 25 minutes remaining in the hope he could have a similar impact.
But the closest the man who marked coming out of international retirement this week by likening himself to God came to some divine intervention was when he saw a header saved.
JAMES McPAKE insists he is still the right man to lead Dundee back up.
Tuesday’s 3-1 loss to Ayr piled pressure on him but the Dark Blues could still go level on points with second-top Dunfermline if they win at Alloa tonight.
The Dens boss said: “Absolutely. That’s not a false hope, an arrogance or a daft confidence in my own ability. I believe we have the players and the staff that can take this club back to the Premiership.
“Hopefully come May that’s where we’ll end up.”
Alloa are aiming for back-to-back wins after Saturday’s defeat of Queen of the South. Skipper Andy Graham said: “We’ve been playing well and it’s a case now of getting the wins we need to stay up.”