Jamie Power plans to take on the Pink Panther

JAMIE Power has his sights set on challenging Jim ‘The Pink Panther’ Rock for his Irish heavyweight title before the end of the year.
The 28-year-old professional boxer from Norwood Park has confirmed that he will be back in the ring for his sixth pro fight on July 25 in the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght.
The ex-St. Francis amateur boxer who holds a perfect record of five wins will do battle with Mayo’s John Waldron.
Waldron is not unknown to Limerick fight fans as he was the last man to oppose Andy Lee as an amateur when the Mayoman fought Lee in the Pery Hotel on his return from the Athens Olympic Games in a fund-raising show held by St Francis BC.
“This contest has been talked about on a few occasions, but never came off because of different issues - John is from Connacht and I’m from Munster so Dublin is a perfect neutral location for this fight to happen and it promises to be a cracker on a really exciting night of boxing. I can’t wait,” said Power.
“A lack of sparring had a lot to do with my last performance which wasn’t my best, but Ken has sorted that for this one and I am currently getting the rounds in with some very tough guys.
“After six weeks and about a hundred rounds of sparring I’ll be fully ready for John Waldron,” said Power who is training under the watchful eye of manager Ken Moore, trainer Finbarr O’Brien and conditioner Mario Felliciallo.
The July 25 show is being staged by Hyland Promotions and will see brothers Eddie and Patrick Hyland fighting for titles as well as four other top class contests.
Tickets cost €50 and go on sale at the start of next week and can be booked by calling 061 422 244.
Jamie Power was last in the ring last April when he secured a hard-fought six-round win over Slovakian Light Heavyweight champion Vladimir Idranyi in Cork’s Silversprings Hotel.
The confirmation of Jamie Power’s next outing comes just days before fellow pro-boxer Andy Lee steps back between the ropes.
The Castleconnell 25-year-old faces into his 19th pro-boxing contest this Saturday night on the undercard of the World Heavyweight clash of champion Waldimir Klitschko and Ruslan Chagaev. The heavyweight contest takes place in the Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.
Andy Lee, who celebrated his 25th birthday last week, will face Lativan Olegs Fedotovs in an eight-round middleweight contest.
While the former St Francis Boxing Club Olympian brings a record of 17 wins from 18 fights to the ring (one misfortunate defeat against Brian Vera last year) Fedotovs’ record reads 10 wins and five losses.
Andy Lee has spent much of the last month in the Austrian Alps on a training camp with coach-manager Emanuel Steward and fellow Kronk Gym boxers Klitschko and Jonathan Banks.
“Waldimir is a real professional and is an inspiration and role model to me as a boxer in the process of learning my trade,” said Lee.
“I am very focussed on developing my boxing skills and this fight gives me the opportunity to gain yet more experience.
“I have been a professional now for just over three years and I am still learning through my fights and in the gym,” said the southpaw.

JEROME O’CONNELL