MONEY TALKS
Rising Scots stars Farooq and McGregor set to battle but bout will only happen if price is right
FOR years, Kash Farooq and Lee McGregor have been gradually drawn together like magnets and now the time is approaching for them to finally meet.
That two of Scotland’s rising boxing stars both find themselves in the bantamweight division is perhaps unfortunate for them but brilliant for the fans whose wish to see them face off in the ring could well happen sooner rather than later.
That the card could also feature Scotland’s world champion Josh Taylor will only set the pulses racing faster.
Farooq produced a clinical job on Saturday night in becoming only the third Scot in 25 years to claim a Lonsdale Belt outright when he stopped Bristol’s Duane Winters in the first round for a third successful defence of his British title in under a year.
McGregor had been made mandatory challenger ahead of that bout and now it will come down to the money men to see if they can find a way to make an all-Scottish fight happen.
It has all the ingredients to be a classic; Farooq, Pakistan-born but a son of Glasgow now against McGregor, the 22-year-old diehard Hearts fan from Edinburgh.
Just a year apart in age and undefeated in their professional careers, both are already being tipped as future world champions.
Neither will shy away from the fight but 23-year-old Farooq knows it has to be worth their while.
His preference would be to meet in Glasgow’s SSE Hydro later this year on the undercard of a future Taylor world-title defence and he believes McGregor would go for that, too.
‘I want it and so does McGregor,’ he said. ‘And I’d like to fight him at the end of November or the start of December.
‘I know he’s mandatory now but it comes down to management. We need to sit down and discuss it. We are both putting our undefeated records on the line, so it has to be worth it. It’s a business and the price needs to be right.
‘It’s going to happen in Glasgow. It’s big enough to go to the Hydro. Hopefully Josh Taylor gets a fight around that time and we can get on the undercard of that.
‘Hopefully TV is backing it and both me and Lee get paid well.
‘It would be one of the biggest Scottish fights for years. You go back to the likes of Kevin McIntyre versus Kevin Anderson, or even further back to Alex Arthur versus Ricky Burns, Craig Docherty and Willie Limond. Some of those were Glasgow versus Edinburgh and this will be the same.
‘I hope I get a promotional contract now and I’m sure that the phone will be going in the next day or two. There are big opportunities. I know I’m going to have to put myself through hell again to train for it but I’m excited about the future.’
Claiming the belt on Saturday was the end of the first chapter for Farooq, a quietly determined character who has grown quickly from a virtual unknown to having his fights broadcast live on television.
‘I’m building up a fanbase in Scotland but in Glasgow especially,’ he added.
‘People are taking notice of me. You wouldn’t have thought this a year and a half ago or even at the beginning of my career.
‘I didn’t have a promoter and couldn’t sell tickets. But my manager Iain Wilson has built me up well and my trainer Craig Dickson has put a lot of work in to me over the past three years.
‘I’m a small-hall fighter at the moment but getting on the BBC is getting me great coverage. I hope this is just the start.’