No room in the ring for united Irishmen

Tonight's Commonwealth lightwelterweight fight between Belfast's Eamonn Magee and Liverpool's Shea Neary at the Waterfront seems to have generated enough animosity without ever going into hype mode.

Magee, from the nationalist Ardoyne area of Belfast, grew up with the Troubles and lived through the arrest and internment of his father. The Ardoyne particularly suffered throughout the years of violence.

Neary, who markets himself as an Irishman and whose father was born in Dublin, has been called a "Plastic Paddy" by Magee. The Belfast fighter has also claimed that Tony Cascarino, the self-proclaimed fraud, is more Irish than Neary.

Magee (29) may also understand something of Neary's backround which could cause additional friction. Neary was a former member of the British armed forces. No love lost there then.