LEE MCGREGOR: THE WINNER OF ME AND NATHANIEL COLLINS COULD FIGHT NICK BALL
Quietly, the British featherweight division has been building real strength in depth.
Lee McGregor, 15-1-1 (11 KOs), is a relatively new addition to a busy scene and can’t wait to get involved.
The 28 year-old Scotsman will fight his undefeated countryman, Nathaniel Collins, 16-0 (7 KOs), in Glasgow on May 24th.
WBA world champion, Nick Ball, leads the way and the Liverpudlian is targeting a super fight with undisputed and Ring Magazine super bantamweight champion, Naoya Inoue.
McGregor slots in just behind Ball and finds himself amongst a group of talented, ambitious fighters.
Last year, Collins looked set for a European title fight before serious illness ended his 2024 campaign before it had really begun.
Zak Miller now holds the British and Commonwealth titles whilst former European and British super bantamweight champion, Liam Davies, has joined the party and will face undefeated Irish Olympian, Kurt Ward, on May 10th.
Whoever emerges on top will have proven their worth against good quality opposition and accumulated the type of invaluable experience that will serve them well when they join Ball at world level.
Wherever McGregor looks there are targets.
“Domestically, it's mad,” McGregor told The Ring.
“Nick Ball's there leading the pack and this is what we want. We all want to be world champion. I feel like the way boxing is now, these fights are easily made. A lot of us are under the same banner now. There’s nobody in the way, no promoters in the way stopping things happening.
“If you're in a position and you're willing and ready to take on a challenge, you're going to get that because you've got the promoters and the management and the teams to do that and so all I all I need to do is just keep winning and I'm sure everything else will fall into place.”
McGregor knows what it takes to rule domestically.
He holds the record for being the fastest fighter to win the European, British, and Commonwealth titles - achieving the feat in just 10 professional fights - and seemed destined for world honors.
Whether it was down to him simply outgrowing the bantamweight division or mental and physical fatigue after burning so brightly, so quickly, McGregor went off the boil.
After stepping up to super bantamweight and losing a hard fought war to Erik Ayala in July 2023, McGregor rethought his plan of attack.
He spent much of 2024 rebuilding and, last December, got the call to travel to Riyadh to face Isaac Lowe on the undercard of the rematch between unified and Ring Magazine heavyweight champion, Oleksandr Usyk, and Tyson Fury.
Although there were still signs of ring rust, there were also plenty of flashes of the old Lee McGregor and he looked strong and fit at 126lbs as he boxed and fought his way to a unanimous decision victory.
Confidence restored, he is determined that the second part of his career will culminate in a world title opportunity.
“Myself, I'm in a really good position going into this next fight,” he said.
“Me and Nathaniel are both high with the WBC and it's for a WBC silver title. The winner of this is no doubt probably going to get a world title shot this year and then it's like, is it a big all British domestic one where Ball has to wait on Inoue?
“Probably - realistically - if he's gonna have one in between waiting on Inoue, it could be the me or Nathaniel could be getting the call.”
Announced: Josh Taylor has signed with allegedly and will face Ekow Essuman in a welterweight clash in May in Glasgow, Scotland.
