Tej Pratap Singh has warned Max McIntyre that he is ready to cause another upset and therefore derail his promising career.
The Indian has been matched with McIntyre, perhaps Tasman Fighters’ finest prospect, at super middleweight on the undercard of Jason Moloney-Andre Donovan at Brisbane’s Fortitude Music Hall, and does so having previously undermined the future of McIntyre’s fellow Australian Blake Wells.
Wells was undefeated in seven and progressing in the way he had expected until in 2023 he fought Singh, who inflicted not only his first defeat but his second in their rematch five months later.
It perhaps took two years and the victory over the world-title challenger Andrei Mikhailovich for Wells’ reputation to start to be rebuilt, and Singh is determined to ensure that the 21-year-old McIntyre suffers similarly next.
“On paper, as his promoter says, he looks good, and he’s fought good guys,” the 39-year-old told BoxingScene. “He relies on his right hand, so I have to negate that right hand, and he has a Philly shell, so I have to counter that style.
“[But] I’m focusing on myself rather than him. I’ve been working on what I can do in the ring rather than what he can or can’t do.
“I’ve just got to come and fight – I’m going to be relentless. That’s my secret, if you want to know.
“I’m a middleweight at super middle. I couldn’t get a fight at middle – I was trying for a while. This fight was presented to me so I took it.
“I’m not able to sell good tickets. You’ve got to sell tickets to be popular, and I’m not that popular.
“I just want to test myself every time. Who I’m up against doesn’t matter. I want to test myself – how good am I? I’m doing it solely for myself.
“It’s the same way – the way the fight’s being pitched. Blake Wells is a different fighter, but similar mentality. ‘I’m gonna go with my head and focus on myself and want I can do in the ring, rather than what he’s going to do.’
“He reminds me of Blake Wells. A similar experience.”
Singh, who fights out of Australia and is a former Australian middleweight champion, considers Uzbekistan’s once-fine amateur Azizbek Abdugofurov his finest ever professional opponent. In 2022 he fought, and lost to, Amari Jones.
