Teo’s confident of achieving fourth victory

AFTER enjoying the rarefied surrounds of the SSE Arena and the Ulster Hall for his first three professional fights, Cookstown’s Teo Alin is looking forward to extending his winning record in the Devenish Complex on Saturday night.

The super-featherweight thoroughly enjoyed the experience of fighting in a huge venue like the SSE Arena on two occasions and in front of the BBC TV cameras in the historic Ulster Hall, but he’s equally as keen to show his skills somewhere like Belfast’s Devenish, where the crowd will be closer to the ring and the atmosphere just as vibrant, if not more so.

As well as the new venue, Alin is keen to ‘test himself over six rounds’ on this occasion, having previously only fought through four in his previous three pro fights, all of which he’s won on points.

“I look forward to the Devenish because I think the atmosphere will be better,” he enthused. ”I’m looking forward to that and I’m looking forward to testing myself over six rounds as well.

“It’s good that we’re getting six now because I think I’ll get better as the rounds go on. I’ll be fit to show more as the rounds go on because four rounds doesn’t give you enough time to figure out your opponent, it’s still a very fast pace.

“It’s very close to the amateur level but saying that I’m glad that last fight was four rounds because [Brayan] Mairena would not stop coming! He was in my face all night! You hit him and he asked for more and coming out of it I said to the coaches, ‘I’m glad that was only four rounds’.

“But I train really, really hard, so I haven’t changed anything ahead of this fight, just upped the round of sparring and I’ve found it grand. It suits me far better and I prefer six rounds because four is dangerous. If you get knocked down it doesn’t give you any chance.”

While excited about the prospect of the Devenish crowd and having a six round bout for the first time in the paid ranks, Alin is also keen to discover his opponent because, at the time of writing, he still didn’t know who that would be, but he wasn’t overly concerned about a lack of specific preparation,

“I’m used to not knowing much ahead of fights from my amateur days, but you’d rather know so you know what to work on in sparring,” he added.

“I haven’t really got a game plan but it doesn’t matter who it is, I’ll still be ready.

A Teo is already looking ahead to a fifth bout in the paid ranks, although he admits that may be sooner rather than later as he prepares to become a parent for the first time.

“I’ve my first child due in June, so I’d like to get out again in May time and then I’ll take a break before maybe getting a big fight around August, but we’ll see,” he said.