Super-bantamweight Peter McGrail will aim to rebound from last year’s close decision loss to Shabaz Masoud with a fight against Argentina’s Ckari Mansilla in Liverpool on April 18.
The fight, for the WBO intercontinental bantamweight title, will be featured on a card headlined by a WBO interim light-heavyweight title fight between Callum Smith and David Morrell.
In December, McGrail, 12-2 (6 KOs), suffered the second loss of his pro career when he challenged Masoud for the European super-bantamweight crown in Monte Carlo. It was a close fight, despite the unanimous decision verdict in Masoud’s favour, and McGrail will have presumably taken a lot from it. Prior to that loss, he had won four fights in a row, beating the likes of Ionut Baluta, Rhys Edwards and Brad Foster.
As for Mansilla, his next opponent, he is, in the tradition of many Argentinean fighters who head to Great Britain, a bit of an unknown quantity. His pro record of 18-4 (13 KOs) might scream inconsistency, yet his one trip to Britain so far – last time out – saw him stop the unbeaten Dylan Price in eight rounds. That fight was last May and perhaps indicates that Mansilla is better than his otherwise patchy recent form suggests (he is 3-3 in his last six fights).
