BY CHRIS MCNULTY

DONEGAL duo John Hutchinson and Michael McLaughlin will fight for New England boxing titles in Boston later this month.

‘Buncrana Banger’ Hutchinson fights for the middleweight belt with McLaughlin in search of the welterweight version.

Hutchinson had a planned fight in England shelved early in June because of a problem with an opponent at the last minute, but the 28-year-old returns to American canvas on July 26th at the Royale Nightclub in Boston, Massachusetts.

Hutchinson will meet unbeaten middleweight, Russell Lamour (8-0-0) from Portland won the title last month when he stopped his opponent two minutes into the eighth and final round to win his first professional honour.

It’s the third time Hutchinson has fought in Boston since turning professional in 2012. The 28 year-old Buncrana man won in his last appearance in Boston, claiming a unanimous decision victory over Robert Brando-Hunt in their rematch at the Irish Cultural Centre, Canton.

It was a sensational 40-36 points win over four rounds where the Donegal man out-gunned the American thanks largely to a series of punishing body shots.

Hutchinson’s American debut, a first meeting with Brando-Hunt, ended prematurely because of a head clash and in March the Inishowen man lost to Peter McDonagh in Reading when he was aiming to win the Irish light-middleweight title.

Hutchinson is based in Birmingham where he trains under Mark Wall at the Prospects Boxing Academy. He has a warm-up fight on July 11th in the Walsall Town Hall when he faces journeyman Kieron Gray, who has won 29 of his 36 previous fights.

Michael ‘Owen’ McLaughlin features on that same card in Boston when he faces Sam Girard (17-7-1).
Girard once shared the ring with pound for pound king, Floyd Mayweather Jnr but lost by knockout in the second round of that bout in the Ballys Park Place Hotel Casino, Atlantic City 16 years ago in 1998.

“This will be my toughest test yet,” McLaughlin said.