By 
TEO Alin believes the experience he has built up over an extensive amateur career will hold him in good stead during his maiden professional title fight on Saturday night in Belfast. The Cookstown man will take on Lee Gormley for the vacant BUI Celtic belt in a Tyrone versus Armagh blockbuster on the Bragging Rights show in the Devenish Complex.
And the 29-year-old feels that while he is still a relative rookie in professional terms, he will have more guile and nous than his 33-year-old opponent, who has lost one of his seven bouts in the paid ranks thus far.
Alin, meanwhile, is boasting a perfect 5-0 record thus far and after earning his first TKO in the professional game when defeating Caine Singh in the Devenish in August, he’s confident of success this coming weekend.
“I’ve watched a lot of [Gormley] and I’m very confident going into this fight,” he said.
“We have similar records but I’m confident I will do a job on him. The advantage I have is, he’s had things his own way, [his opponents] don’t seem to be hitting him back.
“I’ve fought a few dangerous journeymen so far and I think that will be a big positive on my side, I think that will pay off because I don’t think he’s really been hit before and I don’t think he had much of an amateur career, unlike me, so I have probably got more experience.”
Having become a father for the first time in June of this year, Alin admits that the timing of his bout with Singh was ‘far from ideal’ but now, with his daughter Florrie in a proper routine, he’s going to be much better prepared for his encounter with Gormley.
“Things are a lot better, I’m in a better routine and I’ve settled into a new life now,” he explained. “I feel like we’ve got on our feet, have got into our routine and when I look back at it, I shouldn’t have taken that fight [against Singh].
“The timing was far from ideal but we got through it and there’s more experience gained for the big one and I can’t wait.”
There will be no shortage of support for Teo in Belfast on Saturday night as he has already sold over 150 tickets for the event and while he’s keen to do the business for his supporters, he also wants to get the job done for his Cookstown Boxing Club coaches, Chalky Kelly and Fred Hampsey, who have been with him since the start of his amateur career and will be in his corner in the Devenish.
“It would be good for my coaches to get a first professional title because they have been with me from the amateurs,” he added. “They already had that buzz of a first amateur title, so it would be good to give them the buzz of a first pro title too.
“It’s not just for me, it’s for them as well.”
