Parr defends against McLeod

By Paul Upham: Australian middleweight champion Wayne Parr, 9-1 (9), defends his title against Team Fenech’s former PABA middleweight champion Ian McLeod, 15-9-1 (4), this Wednesday night at the Palladium on the Gold Coast, as part of the Indy Car week events. A capacity crowd is expected as the two meet in a crossroads bout to determine who is on the way up and who is on the way down.

After a loss to IBF No.4 Nader Hamdan in Sydney in August, the hard-hitting Parr responded with an exciting win in September over Abdul Rasheed, picking himself off the canvas after a second round knockdown.

“It was a good fight. Unfortunately, I got caught in the second round, but I was pretty happy with the end result. If it had gone another round or so I would have knocked him out anyway, he’s lucky that his hand broke and he had to stop. I was getting stronger every round,” said Parr.

Even though McLeod is coming off two defeats to Anthony Mundine last December and against Herman Ajadato in Indonesia in July for the PABA junior middleweight title, Parr is expecting a very tough fight.

“He’s a tough walk-up fighter that is going to give me the fight of my life,” said 25-year-old Parr.

“He’s a former Australian champion, plus the losses are going to make him more hungry than if it was two wins. He’s going to be looking for pay-back on me. This is his chance to get his name up there again. But I’ve got other things planned for him.

“He’s a good name to have on my record if I can knock him over. Mundine beat him in nine rounds, so if I can beat him in four or five rounds that will put me up there as well and hopefully open a few more doors. This is the hardest I’ve trained for a fight in a long time and I am very keen.”

This is a very important fight for McLeod who needs to win to have any hope of getting back into some further big fights. Back at his preferred weight of middleweight, McLeod has been working very hard in the Team Fenech gym and has put his last two losses behind him.

“One loss at super middleweight, one at junior middleweight, I’ve put them away and am back to middleweight where I am at my best,” said McLeod, who will have three-time world champion Jeff Fenech in his corner.

“I have got to win. This is it for me. After a loss to Nader Hamdan and then getting knocked down by Rasheed, his confidence is not going to be there so I’m glad that I’m fighting him now. I don’t want to stand in front of him, I don’t want to mix it with him, I want to box him.”

On a seven fight card, the main support bout will be Australian heavyweight champion Bob Mirovic, 13-9-2 (6), defending his title against former champion Colin Wilson, 22-12 (14). Tickets are on sale at the Palladium or by phone on 0410 408488.


Paul Upham
Contributing Editor