Pocket Rocket to explode into action for hometown fight
Las Vegas-based McCullough, noted for throwing around one hundred punches a round, is ready to steamroll the Russian outsider in Belfast's Maysfield Leisure Centre as he aims to move closer to a showdown with WBO featherweight champion Scott Harrison.
Pocket Rocket McCullough, a former WBC bantamweight champion, has described the pain he went through for two years after the British Boxing Board of Control stopped him from making his Belfast return two years ago against Hungarian Sandor Koczak.
The 32-year-old said: ''It was a real bombshell. I was all set to fight when the promoter of the show told me there was something wrong with the scan and I couldn't fight. I just sat in the car and cried.
''I just accepted it at first and thought 'it's over'. I don't think it really sank in for a while.
''But when I got home to Las Vegas I was encouraged to get a second opinion so I went to the best in the world and they gave me the all-clear.
''But it still took some time for me to get my licence with the board and that still hurts. I still don't know why they took so long.
''It was a very hard two years and even before I got back in the ring in Vegas in January it wasn't easy. Just getting through the fight was an achievement.''
McCullough stopped journeyman Alvin Brown in two rounds and in September had his first fight on British soil for seven years, stopping South African Johannes Maisa in four.
There was only one place to have his next fight back in Belfast where his incredible story began, from Irish senior amateur champion to Olympic silver medallist at the Barcelona Games in 1992.
''I would fight in a phone booth as long as it was in Belfast,'' he added.
''I can't wait to feel the support behind me tomorrow night. The Belfast fans deserve big fights and hopefully this is just the start.''
Meanwhile, Johnny Tapia wanted to fight Marco Antonio Barrera so much in tonight's world title featherweight showdown in Las Vegas that he discarded his share of the world title to make the match.
Tapia, 50-2 with two drawn and 27 knockouts, is a five-time world champion who surrendered the IBF featherweight title to face Naseem Hamed's conqueror, Barrera, rather than meet a mandatory challenger for less money.
The 35-year-old American captured the crown last April, taking a 12-round majority decision over Mexico's Manuel Medina.
Tapia followed the lead of heavyweight fighter Lennox Lewis, who chose to discard two crowns in order to fight what he considered better foes for a bigger pay cheque.
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