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Junior middleweights Kieron Conway and Macaulay McGowan have a big chance to impress on a big stage this Saturday, as they’ll meet in a 10-round bout on the Joshua-Pulev undercard, streaming live on DAZN.
Conway (15-1-1, 3 KO) was originally set to meet Souleymane Cissokho, who pulled out late. That was, frankly, meant to be a showcase for Cissokho, a 29-year-old Senegalese-French fighter who won a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympics.
McGowan (14-1-1, 3 KO) has stepped in to fill the gap, and is promising to bring the heat.
“I’m absolutely buzzing,” said McGowan. “I want to be involved in good fights, so to be in a good fight on probably the biggest show of the year is great.”
The 26-year-old is coming off of his first career loss, dropping a wide 10-round decision to Tursynbay Kulakhmet on Nov. 11. But the short break coming off of a beating doesn’t concern him; instead, he feels he’ll be able to apply what he’s learned from that experience.
“I got punched from pillar to post in my last fight with Kulakhmet. It wasn’t my night,” McGowan said. “It is what it is. Boxing and life is about being resilient. There’s no time to moan about it, I was straight back training and now it’s time to bounce back and get a good win.
How to Watch Joshua vs Pulev
Date: Saturday, Dec. 12 | Start Time: 1:00 pm ET
Location: The SSE Arena, Wembley - London, England
Stream: DAZN | TV: Sky Box Office (UK)
Online Coverage: BadLeftHook.com
“One thing I learned from going into that Kulakhmet fight and how it all played out was that I was thinking about it too much and what the opponent was going to do. I don’t care about what Conway is coming with, I just worry about me. I’m going to war, that is that.”
The 24-year-old Conway is perhaps best known for a controversial draw result against Ted Cheeseman in June 2019, a fight most felt Cheeseman should have won clearly. He’s won three straight since then, beating Navid Mansouri in his last bout on Aug. 14.
Conway says he’s happy to have a fight on the card still, and that he’ll do everything he can to be fully ready for the change in opponent.
“I hadn’t seen too much about Macaulay before the fight was made so I will be using my time wisely and finding the inevitable patterns in his work and do what I must to get the win,” he said.
“In all honesty you couldn’t take much from his last fight as Kulakhmet is a great fighter and would make most look bad. If McGowan over commits — which will happen — I will land hard accurate punches which absolutely could end the night early.”