McGregor gives Sussex heavyweight prospect Welch a boost ahead of Sky TV debut

After the British Board of Control blocked Welch’s management’s original choice of opponent he’s set to take on Belgian based Moroccan Amine ‘The Beast’ Boucetta over six rounds in Dorset.

Speaking to SussexWorld, Welch’s father and trainer, and former British and Commonwealth heavyweight champion Scott was quick to play down any gripe with the board over the change of opponent.

“We just have to deal with it, as it was our first choice had a better record (9 wins, 2 defeats) than Boucetta, he’s 7 and 6, but again will be a real test for us, and another step on Tom’s journey,” said Welch snr.

"We wanted an eight-rounder but the TV schedules only had room for a six. Let’s get Saturday done and the next one will be eight rounds and hopefully again on Sky Sports.”

It was during a recent training camp in Los Angeles that Welch jnr met up with the legendary McGregor.

Welch snr said: “Another one of my stable, Tiernan Bradley, goes back a long way with Conor, he got him in for sparring in preparation for the Mayweather super fight a few years ago. He lives in Bel Air, so they hooked up when we’re all training over there, next minute Tom and Tiernan are on his Lear jet travelling down to Denver for a fight promotion.”

Ahead of Saturday Welch Snr has also commented on a seemingly ludicrous situation when the UK has three world title promotions at different venues.

Leigh Wood looks to regain his World Featherweight title in Manchester, Michael Conlan fights for another version of the title in Ireland while Okolie and Billham-Smith lock horns on the south coast.

“It’s crazy, and again highlights how promoters should work with each other, hopefully it won’t happen again, but it dilutes the product, it all three title fights are classics they won’t get the coverage they deserve, but there’s nothing I can do about it, we’ve just got to concentrate on Tommy giving a good account of himself in front of the cameras.”