Alin overcomes pre-bout sickness to make it two from two

TEO Alin’s preparations for his second professional bout were dealt a late blow the day before his clash at the SEE Arena in Belfast against Columbian Joshua Ocampo.

On the morning of the weigh-in, the Cookstown man woke up feeling a little unwell and immediately after completing the pre-bout formalities he started vomiting.

But the 28-year-old, who is quickly becoming something of a fans favourite in the ring, was determined not to let the hordes of supporters who had bought tickets from him ahead of the clash down.

“We were actually lucky we got that fight because on Thursday I woke up and wasn’t feeling right,” he explained. “I went in and weighed in and as soon as I had my first sip of water after that, it came straight back up. I had a touch of that stomach bug that’s going round. I couldn’t keep water down or nothing for hours.

“I was dehydrated as it was and I wasn’t fit to rehydrate so I was fearing the worst at that point. I was determined to get better and I took some sickness tablets and come seven o’clock I was fit to keep down my first full drink of water.

“And then my mum came down to the house and she made me food – she didn’t want me to fight because I didn’t look well – and I was fit to keep that down, which was a relief.

“After that I kept drinking water and eating little bits regularly and started to come around, thankfully.

“That was the day before the fight, which is far from ideal and there was doubt in my mind on Friday morning because, while I woke up and felt OK, I had that doubt that I didn’t know what way my energy levels were going to be after being sick about eight times!

“I was thinking ‘I’ve sold too many tickets, I’m not backing out. I need to go in here and fight’. My girlfriend, Chalky [Kelly, coach], everyone was saying I might have to pull out but I was determined to do anything to get in the ring on Friday.”

In the end, any doubts over his condition were quickly eased as his energy levels proved much better than even he expected as he comfortably saw off his vastly more experienced South American opponent on a clear points decision.

“It was a decent performance, it could have been better but considering how I felt on Thursday I’ll take it!,” he said.

“Going into the fight, it was about getting the job done but after the second round I actually felt OK, I could have done six rounds. I was grand and after the second round I started picking it up a bit more because I knew I was OK.

“He was very awkward but he was going backwards, trying to survive, he wasn’t engaging much so I wasn’t fit to showcase some stuff like counter-punching, head movement and my reflexes.

“I was on the hunt throughout and it was a good performance. I just focused on picking shots at the right time, not over-doing it.

“It was a mature performance because I didn’t go in and try to blast him out.”