CORK welterweight Billy Walsh, accused in the past of ducking Stephen Haughian, insists this has never been the case and is ready to prove it by taking on the Lurgan man in his own back yard.

IRISH boxing embraced a new star at the weekend as the jet-lagged Cuban southpaw sensation, Ismaikel ‘Mike’ Perez was ringside for the national senior championship finals in Dublin just hours after he touched down at Cork Airport.