Australia’s Max McIntyre believes that he is ready for the “measuring stick” presented by Tej Pratap Singh after sparring Lester Martinez.
The promising super middleweight on Thursday confronts his most experienced of 10 professional opponents, and does so aware that Singh has previously been matched to test other talented young fighters when they are being stepped up in class.
Singh, of India, has previously fought and lost to, among others, Amari Jones, but he then recorded successive victories over the previously undefeated Blake Wells, halting the upwards trajectory Wells’ career was then on.
He moves up to 168lbs on the undercard of Jason Moloney-Andre Donovan at Brisbane’s Fortitude Music Hall to test himself against the 21-year-old McIntyre – at 39 Singh is almost double his age – but McIntyre’s preparations against the WBC champion Martinez and more mean that he is confident of delivering the nature of statement the 32-fight Singh’s other opponents are yet to make.
“In the Australian community he’s surprisingly well known, just for being around for a while,” McIntyre told BoxingScene. “A lot of the old heads, especially, have told me a lot about ‘He’s tough; he’s durable’. People know of his name in Australia, which is good – that’s what I want. Once I beat this guy then they’ll know that I’m the real deal here.
“He might be able to get me out of my third, fourth gear. I don’t think I’ve gotten out of third gear yet, but because of his durability and his experience he should be able to. But the way I’m firing right now… I sparred over in Vegas, with Lester Martinez, the WBC champion, I sparred Al[arenz] Stanton – Terence Crawford’s sparring partner. Martinez put the pressure on me too – and he can punch hard – and the way I handled that, I believe I’ll be able to take over Australian boxing for sure.
“He knows how to stay in there; he knows how to survive in fights. But if I can take him out – Amari Jones couldn’t do it, Francis [Waitai] couldn’t do it, Blake Wells couldn’t do it, Isaac Hardman couldn’t knock him out, and I’m only 21. If I can do it at this stage of my career it’s definitely a measuring stick for me. But I know I can, and I know I’ll be able to do it in spectacular fashion.
“He’s durable; experienced; he’s had 32 professional fights. It’s the hardest I’ve ever prepared in camp, and I’ve had all things dialled in and know that he always brings a tough fight, but I believe that my skills will shine through and I’ll be able to put him away.
“He’s fought in the States. He’s no pushover. So I’ve gotta give him the respect, but I believe my skills will definitely be too much for him.
“He comes forward; presses forward. He’s never been knocked out – he’s only been stopped by a cut, and he was arguably ahead in that fight [against Deok No Yun in 2023] as well. That was at super middleweight too. Especially middleweights that aren’t able to deal with the pressure, he’s a real, real problem, but his style’s made for me – I like people that come forward and throw a lot of punches, and I believe it’ll make me look great on the night [if he fights like that].
“He’s not very good at defending punches – he’s got a high guard, and a lot of people haven’t been able to find openings yet, but watching him on video, I’ll be able to find openings.
“He beat [Kazuto] Takesako pretty convincingly and that was only 18 months ago. Just put the pace on him – and he was 16-1 at the time – so he’s not a pushover right now.”
McIntyre has been promised by his promoters Tasman Fighters that he will headline for the first time later in 2026 if he succeeds in defeating Singh.
“I’ve stayed very busy,” he said. “My first year [as a professional] I ended up having six or seven fights, which was a really good year, but then I ended up shifting into only fighting when Jai [Opetaia, also promoted by Tasman] fights. Which was a really good thing for me, ‘cause I was fighting on world-title undercards. But fighting the same amount as a world-title holder’s fighting.
“I only fought three times last year. I’m not gonna complain, because it was on such a big platform, but I think I’ll be even more active now that a lot of the fights will be in Brisbane, and potentially I’ll be headlining, or Conor [Wallace] will be headlining. In the next one or two fights I’ll be the main event – hopefully the next one after this, if we can get one of those fights sorted.”
