{"id":31925,"date":"2025-04-19T03:44:12","date_gmt":"2025-04-19T03:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/31925\/"},"modified":"2025-04-19T03:44:12","modified_gmt":"2025-04-19T03:44:12","slug":"controversial-footballer-james-mcclean-tipped-to-make-shock-career-move-and-fight-ksi-in-boxing-match","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/31925\/","title":{"rendered":"Controversial footballer James McClean tipped to make shock career move and fight KSI in BOXING match"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul class=\"mol-bullets-with-font\">\n<li class=\"class\"><strong>Combative Wrexham midfielder James McClean has hit the headline this year<\/strong><\/li>\n<li class=\"class\"><strong>KSI was due to face Wayne Bridge this year before the ex-Chelsea man withdrew<\/strong><\/li>\n<li class=\"class\"><strong><a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" class=\"class\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/dailymail.lnk.to\/its-all-kicking-offDM\">LISTEN NOW: It&#8217;s All Kicking Off!<\/a> Should Marcus Rashford leave Man United to spearhead Aston Villa&#8217;s attack?\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"author-section byline-plain\">By DAVID KENT <\/p>\n<p class=\"byline-section\"> Published:  14:36 EDT, 17 April 2025   |  Updated:  19:39 EDT, 17 April 2025   <\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">James McClean has been backed to make a shock move into boxing where he could &#8216;do a bit of damage&#8217; to\u00a0YouTuber-turned-fighter <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/ksi\/index.html\" id=\"mol-7d221ce0-1bba-11f0-94e7-9bd8c482c742\" rel=\"noopener\">KSI<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The Wrexham footballer\u00a0has made headlines over the last few years for clashing with rivals fans and for his refusal to wear a poppy around <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/remembrance\/index.html\" id=\"mol-7d0d8370-1bba-11f0-94e7-9bd8c482c742\" rel=\"noopener\">Remembrance<\/a> Day.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Last month, police were forced to intervene when the 35-year-old was involved in ugly altercation with angry Stockport fan. While, two weeks earlier, he made a savage dig\u00a0at Rotherham supporters by declaring they &#8216;stink of p***&#8217; in social media post after 1-0 win.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Londonderry-born McClean&#8217;s poppy stance is longstanding and he refused to link arms with his team-mates during a minute&#8217;s silence last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">And, with McClean nearing the end of his footballing career, his ex-Republic of Ireland team-mate Shane Long believes he is perfect for the world of boxing.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;He&#8217;s got an engine on him so he&#8217;s got the fitness for boxing and he always kept himself in the best shape possible,&#8217; the former Reading and Southampton striker told <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" class=\"class\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/boylesports.com\/sports\/football\/competition\/ireland-premier-division\">BoyleSports<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-48d634d3a3ca1d5e\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/97400843-0-image-m-43_1744914021071.jpg\" height=\"554\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Captain James McClean has steered Wrexham into the League One automatic promotion spots\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Captain James McClean has steered Wrexham into the League One automatic promotion spots\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-4f4723dff0a21c61\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/97400929-0-image-a-41_1744914007563.jpg\" height=\"442\" width=\"634\" alt=\"YouTuber-turned boxer KSI, real name Olajide Olatunji, is a potential opponent for McClean\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">YouTuber-turned boxer KSI, real name Olajide Olatunji, is a potential opponent for McClean<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-37d8ea48de417b1b\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/97400881-0-image-a-42_1744914014049.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Shane Long believes his former Republic of Ireland team-mate has what it takes to be a boxer\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Shane Long believes his former Republic of Ireland team-mate has what it takes to be a boxer<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;I&#8217;ve never actually seen him fight, so I don&#8217;t know. I&#8217;ve never seen him throw a punch, but if it&#8217;s one of his hobbies, then why not?<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;He&#8217;s got the personality to go out there and entertain the crowd as well. So, never say never.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Earlier this year, KSI was lined up to face Wayne Bridge in\u00a0a Misfits Boxing bout before the former Chelsea defender withdrew claiming that his potential opponent had &#8216;crossed a line&#8217; with his pre-fight talk.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">And should\u00a0KSI, whose real name is Olajide Olatunji, ever face McClean then Long knows who he would be backing.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">When asked if McClean could beat KSI, Long said: &#8216;I think size is a big thing in boxing. I don&#8217;t know the weight difference there but I&#8217;d back McClean against anyone.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;He&#8217;s an angry little terrier, so he could do a bit of damage to anyone.&#8217;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>                    Share or comment on this article:<br \/>\n                        Controversial footballer James McClean tipped to make shock career move and fight KSI in BOXING match<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Combative Wrexham midfielder James McClean has hit the headline this year KSI was due to face Wayne Bridge&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31926,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4108],"tags":[1935,92,94,1895,2359,93,79,16,15,18833],"class_list":{"0":"post-31925","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-dailymail","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-ksi","12":"tag-southampton","13":"tag-sport","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-wrexham"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114362572124985272","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}