Lee McGregor exclusive: I hope I get the credit I deserve when I win

Lee McGregor is desperate to make up for lost time.

The talented 28-year-old has been in the boxing wilderness but, last December, he was given the chance to reignite his career on the undercard of the massive unified heavyweight title rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury.

McGregor (15-1-1, 11 KOs) renounced himself to the boxing world with a unanimous decision victory over Isaac Lowe.

This weekend he is back in action. On Saturday night he takes on the undefeated Nathaniel Collins (16-0, 7 KOs) in a high stakes featherweight fight. For all the latest fight odds, visit our sportsbook

DAZN will stream the event which is headlined by former undisputed junior welterweight champion, Josh Taylor, against the relentless Ekow Essuman.

“I expected to win”

“I said all the pressure was on Isaac but real boxing people favoured me all day long. I’d like to say with the bookies and everything I was a favourite,” McGregor told 32Red.

“So it was his stage but I was expected to win and with not being at that level for so long there was pressure but I dealt with it well I thought. I didn’t let that occasion get to me and I dealt with it well and won very convincingly.”

McGregor has endured more than his share of personal tragedy. For a long time, he battled away in spite of his troubles and set a record by winning the British, Commonwealth and European titles within just 10 professional fights

Things have got harder over the past few years but the win over Lowe was his most significant since he beat Karim Guerfi to win the European belt back in 2021.

“I’m back happy which is a really important thing,” he said. “You need to be happy within yourself and within your life and there’s been spells in my career where I’ve really not been happy and I think that’s influenced my performances in the gym, in training and in fights, so we’re in a very good place as it stands just now.”

After beating Lowe, McGregor knew that he would be given another opportunity. This weekend, he will fight former British and Commonwealth featherweight champion, Collins.

“He’s fit and a strong boy”

The winner will put themselves in line for an even bigger fight in the future. Nothing comes easy at this level of professional boxing and McGregor is braced for a hard night’s work.

“He can do a bit of everything,” McGregor said. “He’s fit and he’s a strong boy. I’ve actually travelled all over the world with Nathaniel on the Scotland boxing team. We were on the team together for years but I was always at that weight below him in the amateurs but then I did end up fighting him in the amateurs about ten years ago.”

If things have started to come good for McGregor over the past twelve months, Collins has had a hard year. Last May he was rushed to hospital and had to undergo a life-saving eight-hour long operation to correct a twisted bowel.

The 28-year-old has recovered well. He has been back in full training for some time and also boxed an eight-round contest to help eliminate any mental demons.

As McGregor says, he was an amateur teammate of Collins’ and the two have sparred hundreds of rounds. McGregor knows exactly how talented his fellow Scot is and just how hard a challenge he will present on Saturday.

“I’m in a very, very good place”

He doesn’t want Collins’ issues to be part of the conversation this week.

“I hope it’s not because I hope I get the credit I deserve when I do win because I don’t want that to be brought up,” he said.

“You know what this game’s like. No matter what you do there’s always something brought up to sort of downplay your wins. I’m just fully focused on the best version of Nathaniel and I honestly do believe that the best version of Lee McGregor beats the best version of Nathaniel Collins. Not disrespectfully, I just genuinely believe that.”

McGregor was once seen as a fighter who should go on and win world honours. Circumstances and obstacles have slowed his charge but he has made it through to the other side.

After everything he has been through, he still has time to fulfil every bit of the hope and potential people once placed in him.

“I know people whose careers have only started really beginning at 27 or 28. I’m in a very, very good place,” he said.

“I’m gonna start this year well and finish it even better. If I got to challenge for a world title this year I would be absolutely delighted.”

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