Bevan 'up for the challenge' of Brennan bout

Super-middleweight Taylor Bevan said he is "up for the challenge" of facing unbeaten Irishman Emmet Brennan in Dublin on Saturday.

The 25-year-old from Southampton will look to extend his record to 10 wins without loss when he fights at Croke Park on the undercard of Katie Taylor's bout with Flora Pili.

Bevan has the same manager as Taylor in Brian Peters - who is so confident that his man will win that he has promised Brennan double money if he has his arm raised at the end of the night.

But Bevan has other ideas and goes into this contest off the back of being taken the distance in a fight for the first time, beating Ryszard Lewicki in Southampton in June.

"I'm definitely up for this challenge," Bevan told BBC Sport. "This is the biggest opportunity of his career to box at Croke Park and he lives around the corner from the stadium in Dublin.

"I'm expecting the very best version of him because he's going to be well up for this fight, this is what he's dreamed of so he would have put everything into this camp.

"I've got those spectacular knockouts that everyone wants at the start of your journey as it helps to build your name, but at some point it was going to come where you do go the distance and I learnt a lot in my last fight.

"Ryszard taught my so much in that last fight to take forward and I've been sparring him for this camp too, which has been brilliant."

Bevan turned professional with Eddie Hearn's Matchroom Boxing in 2024, two years after winning Commonwealth Games silver representing Wales at Birmingham 2022.

So far in his career, he has been supported by a large and loud following, with Dublin the latest destination for his fans to watch him in action.

Having started his pro journey with Welsh trainer Colin Jones, Bevan recently made the switch to Manchester, where he is now looked after by Jamie Moore and Nigel Travis.

Their gym includes cruiserweight Pat Brown, welterweight Conah Walker and heavyweight Dave Allen, who has featured Bevan in a number of light-hearted posts on Instagram.

Allen is also in action on Saturday as the chief support when he takes on Thomas Carty.

Despite Bevan appearing to be the target of some humorous posts from Allen on social media, the man from Southampton said the popular heavyweight has significantly helped his development.

Bevan laughed as he said: "When you first meet him, he likes to rip into people.

"He's not ripping me as much now and obviously he has been building up to his fight on the same card as me, I think he might get under my skin on fight week more than my opponent will!

"But he's brilliant to be around and has been a massive help for me in my career, he's always someone I can go to for advice and technical guidance because his knowledge of the sport is unlike anything I've seen before."

With hopes of potentially headlining on the south coast in the future, Bevan is hoping to put on a classy display for his travelling supporters.

"I've got no doubt in my mind that I'll come away with the win and a knockout would be the cherry on top," he said.

"It's a tough test at this stage of my career but I'm the younger and fresher fighter with more experience in the pros.

"I won't go in there looking for the knockout but I think it will come, but as long as I go in there and put in a good performance then I'll be happy with myself."