Macaulay McGowan ready for Sergio Martinez challenge

Two years ago Macaulay McGowan feared his son, Albie, would be brain damaged for life, so fighting the great Sergio Martinez holds little fear for the Manchester native.

The baby was born in December 2019, with the 27-year-old and his wife Francesca in turmoil after they were told of the neonatal brain injury.

«It was a waiting game. You go home being told he might never walk, talk or have a normal development,» McGowan said before his fight against Martinez in Madrid on 27 January.

«Albie suffered from HIE (hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy). It is a lack of oxygen at birth. It meant he could not breathe and suffered brain damage.

»He had to go under a process called therapeutic cooling for 72 hours, where they lower the temperature of the baby to stop secondary brain damage.

«Whether it was God-given or luck I don't know. He ended up crawling, walking and developed like any normal child.

»There are a few things he is a little bit behind in, but if we were told he would be at this stage aged two, we would have taken it."

McGowan's career suffered a setback during his son's health battle. After winning 14 and drawing one of his first 15 professional contests, he has lost both fights since Albie's birth.

He admits Kazakh fighter Tursynbay Kulakhmet «battered» him in a points defeat in November 2020.

Perhaps foolishly, he accepted another fight a month later. Although he lasted 10 rounds again, McGowan lost widely on points against Northampton's Kieron Conway.

«It had to be all-in or all-out. I decided it was time to be all-in,» said McGowan after doing plenty of «soul-searching» last year.

He joined new trainer Joe Gallagher and last month was unexpectedly offered the opportunity to face former WBC and WBO middleweight world