AFTER a brief period at home with his wife and children following his European title success, Willie ‘Big Bang’ Casey returned to camp this week in preparation for his World Title fight with Cuban sensation Guillermo ‘El Chacal’ Rigondeaux. Rigondeaux and Casey were to meet for a press conference in Thomond Park this Monday, but Guilermo was held in the US for not possessing the correct papers to travel. The new date for the Thomond Park event is yet to be named, but Casey did train this week in Limerick ahead of the title fight in March.
Casey returns to Head Coach Phil Sutcliffe raring to go and both protégé and coach firmly believe an upset is on the cards.
“I have been studying Rigondeaux over the holidays” said Sutcliffe “and while he is an unbelievable talent I think Willie will beat him. Its going to be tough, we have no doubts there but our boy is tougher and he can bang as big as anyone out there”.
While Paddy Power has Rigondeaux favourite with Casey 3/1 on upsetting the champion, team Dolphil are quite content entering the fray as underdogs, a tag ‘Big Bang’ has thrived under thus far in his short career. Not many gave Willie a chance against Hyland in the European Title fight, and he completely outclassed the Tallaght man, nobody certainly expected him to win Prizefighter, that is except his team who up to now have been accurate in their forecasts for the Limerick banger. Casey now stands 12 rounds away from becoming Limericks first World Champion and Irelands first champion since Bernard Dunne.
Tickets for this historic event are generously fixed at the same price as Collins v Eubank back in 1995. They are available from www.ticketgroup.ie priced €50, €70 and €130 ringside
