Light heavyweight Aaron Bird (4-0) looks to gain his first title as a professional as he travels to the Normandy Hotel, Glasgow to face Scotland’s light-heavyweight champion Bobby Morrell (5-0, 2KOs) for the vacant Celtic title over ten rounds this Friday.
Bird has an incredible amateur background as he has got five Welsh and one British titles to his name and also represented Wales at the World Championships in 2012.
After turning pro in April 2023, the man from Bideford was scheduled to fight Jake Anthony for the Welsh light-heavyweight title in Llanelli, but Jake’s retirement from the sport has meant that Bird has made that next big step up to challenge for the Celtic title in just 14 months as a professional.
Bird said ahead of the fight: “For this fight, I have pushed myself to the limits in training, and I have had excellent sparring with top pros. This is a massive opportunity fighting for a Celtic title,” he added.
A product of Port Talbot Bulldogs amateur club, Bird debuted against Krzysztof Stawiarski in Plymouth and has only dropped one round as a pro.
On his last performance against Bolton’s Ben Thomas at the Brangwyn Hall, Swansea, the 29-year-old stated: “I feel like I’ve hit another level, which I felt like on my last performance, which was my best to date as a pro.
“I didn’t expect to be doing it (fighting for the Celtic Title) in my fifth professional fight, but you have to take the opportunities when they are there.
“I have come into some form, so I’m feeling confident that I will bring the belt back to Wales.”
His opponent on Friday night, known as “The Tartan Spartan”, got two stoppage wins as a professional over Czech Republic’s Tomas Podlas and Poland’s Michal Ciach, and as an amateur, picked up 9 stoppages out of his 16 amateur fights.
Lastly, Bird wanted to conclude by stating: “I’d like to say a massive thanks to everyone who will be coming up to Glasgow to watch me and to my Mike Jones and my trainers at the Bulldogs and my manager Richard Grigg for pulling this fight off and as always, a big thanks to my sponsors JES Group, StudentDigz, DW Harris and EWS photon project man. Rvd.”
Stay tuned for another interview as on Friday night Rashid Omar travels across the Irish Sea to challenge James McGivern in Belfast for the Boxing Union of Ireland super-lightweight Celtic title on TNT Sports.
Words By Harry Tovey
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