Portsmouth’s skilful Michael McKinson plans to take full advantage of the spotlight when he faces South Londoner Chris Kongo on the Alexander Povetkin vs Dillian Whyte II undercard at the Europa Point Sports Complex in Gibraltar on Saturday.
McKinson (19-0, 2 KOs) has long been a fixture in the WBO ratings and calling out for major fights for some time, but domestic rivals have given the slick southpaw a wide berth. Now McKinson plans to show just why others have chosen the path of avoidance by demonstrating his talents on a grander stage and staking his claim as the best 147-pounder in the UK.
In the other corner, the lanky Kongo (12-0, 7 KOs) is coming off a career-best, ninth-round win over Luther Clay, who he stopped at Matchroom’s Fight Camp last August, but McKinson plans to show he is a different level altogether.
“I found out recently that maybe he wanted to fight me a couple of years ago,” said McKinson. “I must have had a title fight lined up. I’ve been in some decent level fights for a good few years now whereas he hasn’t. He had a tough time getting fights. I’ve been in quite a few title fights now. He was very inactive and very frustrated for a while.
“I always want to fight the guys that have a big platform and the guys that have a lot of hype around them. I want to prove myself as the best welterweight in the UK. I’ve been calling for big fights for quite a while. After my last fight, the one name that I called out in my post-fight interview was Chris. Then we got on somebody’s Instagram live and there was a bit of back and forth.
“It has all been respectful to be fair. I knew that Chris would fight me. I’ve been wanting a big fight for a while and nothing really materialised until my manager Lee Eaton from MTK called me and asked me if I’d fight Chris in six weeks. I said definitely. The three extra weeks because of the delay have just been a bonus.
“I’ve started from the very bottom. I’m from a small fighting city really, Portsmouth. I’ve had to do things the hard way. I’ve been the B side many times before. I’ve fought for no money; I’ve come up the hard way with little publicity. I wasn’t a top amateur which didn’t help me when I first turned pro.
“You’ve got two hungry ambitious confident lads, unbeaten lads coming to the ring and fighting each other. It’s great for the boxing public. I was impressed that he got Luther Clay out of there and stopped him. I’ve sparred with Luther Clay a lot in the past. He’s in with a different kettle of fish this time. He will notice that very early.”
Main image: MTK Global.