Wayne's world in complete disarray

Wayne McCullough's boxing career remains in doubt as the dispute between himself and his long-time manager, Matt Tinley, remains unresolved. From his home in Las Vegas last night, McCullough told The Irish Times that he still wanted to fight, but that this would not be possible unless Tinley, a television company executive, released him from a contract which still has more than four years to run.

"I have no intention of waiting for four years to be released from that contract which I should not have signed in the first place. I don't see myself making a comeback at the age of 32, but as things stand at the moment I am being held to that contract and my lawyers are working on it. At the moment I am losing money and my house is going up for sale unless something can be sorted out," he said.

McCullough's wife, Cheryl, who is also now his manager, is pregnant and the baby is expected in mid March. "In those circumstances I would not be in a position to return to Ireland before the summer," he said.

McCullough's bout against Lupe Rangel, which was scheduled for last weekend, was cancelled, although McCullough says that he turned up willing to fight only to be told the match as "off". He denies that he pulled out of the fight. "Fighting is what I love and what I do best. I was there and ready to fight, but I still don't know who called it off," he said.

The promoter claims that McCullough has pulled out of five fights scheduled within the past year, but McCullough says that he never pulled out of a fight without taking the medical advice of his doctor. The problem appears to be the contract which binds McCullough to Tinley for the next four and a half years. This contract has been described by Cheryl McCullough as "slavery".

It is now more than a year since McCullough lost a split decision against Daniel Zaragoza - in Boston on January 11th last year - for the world super bantamweight title. McCullough suffered a broken jaw in that fight and later had a back problem which he claims caused him to cancel training and pull out of fights which had been set up.

His bout last weekend was not expected to cause him much difficulty, but was designed to be a warm-up fight for a world title bout against Erik Morales for the WBC super bantamweight title.