McCullough has title shot

Wayne McCullough's performance against Naseem Hamed in his failed WBO featherweight title fight last October in Atlantic City has earned him a crack at Mexican Erik Morales for his WBC super-bantamweight title on May 8th.

McCullough took Hamed the full distance despite predictions that the fight would finish within three rounds.

The Las Vegas clash with the highly-rated Mexican will be McCullough's second consecutive world title tilt, following a long lay off and subsequent defeat to the British champion last year and he is eager to hold a world title belt again.

Morales has successfully defended his title five times and has a record of 32-0, 26 of those wins by knockout. On Saturday, he issued a chilling warning to McCullough by flattening opponent Angel Chacon in the second round of their bout in Las Vegas. A big right and a left to the head left Chacon reeling and referee Richard Steele immediately called a halt to the action.

It is unlikely that McCullough will be unduely concerned with Morales hype, given that Hamed's record was equally as impressive as the Mexican's. Hamed went into the fight against the Irish Olympic silver medallist with a 30-0 record, 28 of them knockouts.

Now managed by his wife Cheryl and living in Las Vegas, McCullough's record now stands at 23-2 with 14 knockouts and faces an opponent who will be more orthodox than Hamed but probably a tougher opponent.

McCullough has made a name for himself of being a fighter with a big heart, an attribute that has in the past ensured that he has taken plenty of punishment. It has also endeared him to the American public and to television despite his main weakness of not possessing the punching power to regularly knock out opponents.

Hamed was criticised for not appearing in America in time to promote the last fight, claiming that visa problems delayed his arrival. No such problems will surround the new paring given the traditional amount of interest from both the local Irish and Mexican communities.