FORMER Clovenstone boxer Craig McEwan's idea of a summer holiday is to swap Los Angeles for Edinburgh.
Now that the middleweight is based in California, though, he was more than happy to return to his home town where he can bask in the glory of his recent knock-out of Mexican Juan Carlos Sanchez.
"I decided to stage my own July 4 Independence D
ay celebrations by knocking out Juan Carlos Sanchez inside three rounds which thrilled me because Sanchez came with a reputation for being a distance fighter," beamed southpaw McEwan.
His next fight is on August 1 and the former Scottish amateur middleweight champion, unbeaten in the professional ranks, has more than mere victory in mind.
"I'm going to Tucson, Arizona, to clash with Venezuelan Marcos Primeria, who has previously been in with American top-notcher Jermaine Taylor and I aim to see if I can improve on Taylor's performance of stopping Primeria inside the distance," McEwan explained. "I'll be fighting in Tucson's Desert Casino Arena where I've not only boxed several times but I've built up quite a following of local fans."
Meanwhile, Scotland's oldest amateur boxing club, Leith Victoria, are also currently cock-a hoop after being given the financial and planning green light to refurbish their Academy Street premises, transforming it into a state-of-the-art facility.
"Our present gym was badly in need of external and internal upgrading so we are delighted that work has now started and we should have a great new modernised gym in time for our 90th birthday celebrations next year in 2009," confirmed Leith Victoria official Douglas Fraser.
Elsewhere, there has been praise from the Phillipines for Lochend welterweight Gary McMillan.
Filipino super-featherweight ring legend Manny Pacquiao claimed that multi-gold medal-winning amateur McMillan has been his best and most testing sparring partner.
Said a delighted McMillan: "My coach Terry McCormack has pasted the rave review from the Filipino press of our recent Los Angeles sparring sessions on the Lochend gym wall and every time I see it now it fires me up."
McCormack claimed: "We plan to have Gary fight six times this year then go for a British Masters title by Christmas."
• FANS requiring tickets for the forthcoming WBO super-featherweight title fight between defending champion Alex Arthur and English challenger Nicky Cook at Manchester's MEN Arena on September 6 can purchase them locally from Arthur's father, Alex on 07855 703216. Prices start from £40.
The full article contains 417 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
