STEPHEN Tiffney is boxing for the Scottish featherweight title on Saturday but there is also something else on the line: Edinburgh bragging rights. The 29-year-old takes on Lewis Paulin in Paisley on Saturday evening and as two of the country’s most promising professionals, it is difficult to name a favourite. But Tiffney is on a high this year, with the best victory of his career still fresh in his memory and sparring sessions with former world champion Carl Frampton taking him to a new level.
With Tiffney and Paulin hailing from just a few miles from each other, they know each other well and have had a number of sparring sessions together, as well as having faced each other as amateurs. Having been much talk of the pair facing off, Tiffney is just pleased the fight has, finally, been made.
“Both of us I think knew this fight was going to happen at some point and actually I think people thought it would happen sooner than it actually has,” he said. “So I’m really excited for it. I won when we fought as amateurs and I’d like to think that gives me a little edge for this fight.”
Tiffney is still in the early stages of his professional career having only had eight bouts, but he is unbeaten, with his most impressive victory coming in his most recent fight, in June, when he defeated former British title challenger, Englishman Troy James on points.
Tiffney’s confidence is sky-high following that victory and it has, he believes, set him up nicely to win the Scottish title next weekend.
“That was my first 10-round fight and I think that was the perfect preparation for this one,” he said. “That was the perfect step up for me – I’d been looking for something like that for a while and so it was great timing. And I felt good going the 10 rounds. I’d had a hard training camp because I knew he was a tough guy so I had to be ready.”
Tiffney was introduced to Frampton through his Lochend Boxing Club stable-mate, Josh Taylor. When the Commonwealth Games gold medallist relocated to London, he trained alongside the Irishman as part of Barry McGuigan’s stable and after a few recommendations from Taylor, McGuigan gave him the call.
“The first time I went down to London was when Frampton was preparing for the Scott Quigg fight and it was great - although it was a hard, hard week,” he said. “When I was sparring with him, he was still about at six or seven weeks away from the fight but he looked as though he could fight there and then so it was good see how he trained and what it takes to be at the level he’s at.”
Tiffney has trained with Frampton a number of times in the past couple of years but being around a world champion fighter is a far cry from him day job – loading vans at Sainsbury’s. But it is this that gives him the incentive to win this Scottish title fight as a victory will be the stepping-stone to bigger and better things.
“I definitely want to be challenging for either the British or the Commonwealth title - hopefully sometime soon,” he said. “I know this is going to be a tough fight and I know Lewis is dangerous and is a good fighter but I’m feeling confident. Losing is not in my mind.”
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