Fight 4 your Life - Charity Boxing Event at the Ardoyne Shamrock Club, Friday, May 27 @ 7pm

Irish Boxing News: By Bernard O'Neill

Stormont heavyweight Barry McElduff is preparing for the biggest debate of his career after accepting a showdown in the ring with with European and Commonwealth champion Paddy Barnes, a bronze medal winner at the 2008 Beijin Olympics.

Sinn Fein’s West Tyrone MLA will pull on boxing gloves and ordered-to-fit shorts to face Barnes at the Ardoyne Shamrock Club on Friday, May 27 – all in aid of raising suicide awareness and the work of the suicide prevention charity PIPS in north Belfast, of which Barnes is a patron.

The event, hosted by the Suicide Awareness United football team, will consist of a number of charity head-to-heads, with the colourful former Gaelic footballer McEluff and Barnes headlining.

McElduff said he could not say no to the challenge after Barnes sent him a text asking if he was "scared" to face him in the ring.

"It came down to a matter of pride. You don’t go around challenging a Tyrone man like that. I received a text from Paddy that read: ‘Are you up for a fight, or are you scared?’

"I replied, ‘scared is a word that is not in my vocabulary’, to which he replied, ‘I will go easy on you’. It was then that the gravity of the situation hit home.

"Publicly speaking, I am ready for the challenge and the opportunity to put myself forward for consideration for the Olympic Games when they are next staged in Dublin city. If I beat Paddy Barnes, the world is my oyster and I will speak to Don King and interested promoters afterwards.

"Privately speaking, I am terrified."

McElduff says he will be turning to "fighting friends" for advice, including heavyweight Martin Rogan, Craigavon boxer Stephen Haughian and Red Hand Luke (Dan Gordon’s character in BBC’s Give My Head Peace).

Barnes, who returns home to Belfast from his elite training camp in Dublin on Friday, said: "I want to thank Barry for putting himself on the line in aid of PIPS, which I am proud to be a patron of. He has taken the challenge like a man but foolishly too because there will only be one winner.

"I am giving away a lot of weight to him but that will be to my advantage because he will find it hard to catch me."

Phillip McTaggart, Director of PIPS, said: "We are overwhelmed that Paddy Barnes and Barry McElduff are headlining the Fight 4 Your Life boxing event. We had hoped Paddy, as our patron, would be in attendance but to have him in the ring is an amazing boost for the event.

"This event is about raising awareness and to break down the barriers for those who want to talk about suicide, and we are showing that taking part in sport can be good for mental health and wellbeing."