Darren Till plans on making it look easy against Luke Rockhold.
Till will lace up the gloves against fellow ex-UFC fighter Rockhold in Saturday’s Misfits Boxing 22 main event at AO Arena in Manchester, England.
After an intense faceoff last month during a press conference in London, Till is eager to get his hands on Rockhold, and made a bold prediction for their fight.
“All my focus and energy is on this fight,” Till said in an interview with Compare.bet. “I want to be stressed about this fight. I want to be scared. I want to be nervous. I want all of that because that’s what’s going to win me this fight. (I haven’t been this fired up since) probably my Robert Whittaker fight, and I’m in great shape. I’m really f*cking fired up.
“I can’t wait for it because it’s Luke Rockhold. He thinks his sh*t doesn’t smell. There’s a little bit of fire in my belly because I know the way he walks around with his head in the sky. I want to knock him flat out, I’ve got a fire to knock him clean out. I’m f*cking buzzing. I’m going to do a demolition job on him. I’m 100 percent certain that in this fight I’m going to knock him out in the first round. I’m 100 confident about that.”
Since parting ways with the UFC in 2023, Till has gone 3-0 in exhibition boxing bouts, most recently defeating fellow UFC alum Darren Stewart by unanimous decision at Misfits Boxing 21 in May. His journey was meant to commence with Tommy Fury in January, but the matchup was scrapped when Fury withdrew. He ended up facing Anthony Taylor instead, knocking him out in Round 6.
Till is now entering his third boxing match of the year.
“I’m just putting everything into my craft as I always do, and it’ll all show (Saturday),” Till said. “I’m active, I’m saving the events, I’m the face of Misfits – but that doesn’t mean anything to me. I just want to beat Luke, get my paycheck and enjoy it with my friends and family.
“I wanted a big pay-per-view fight because that was promised in my contract. A few days after negotiations, it ended up being Luke. Luke being a former middleweight champion in the UFC, he’s got a big name Stateside and stuff. It all made sense. There’s a great undercard. I didn’t pick Luke. He just got put forward, and it was the right fight.”
