Jack McGann - the 15 Year Old Cage Fighter

A 15-year-old boy will take part in a TV cage fight in front of hundreds of paying fans in Liverpool.

Privately educated Jack McGann will fight a 16-year-old Kye Mellow from Doncaster in the semi-professional bout at the city’s Olympia theatre on Saturday.

Jack, who has only just turned 15, is well-used to taking on opponents determined to knock him out, he had his first semi-professional fight shortly after his 14th birthday.

He is fast gaining a reputation as one of the best young prospects around, mixing training with his GCSE studies at St Mary’s college, in Crosby, one of Merseyside’s top schools.

Saturday’s bout, set to be shown on ITV4, will be a full-contact, mixed martial arts contest of three five-minute rounds in a caged octagon.

But it holds no fear for the 5ft 5in teenager, of Vauxhall’s Eldonian Village, who has been sparring since he was 11.

Afterwards Jack, who is trained by his father Anthony, owner of Wolfslair, in Widnes, the largest mixed martial arts gym outside the USA, will put his fighting career on hold to focus on his GCSEs next summer.

He said: “I would take fighting in the octagon over doing my French homework any day. I think I am much better at the fighting.

“I have sparred against older lads ever since I started out and I have always felt OK.

“Because of my dad’s gym, I have met some of the best mixed martial artists from Brazil and the USA and I have always competed at other sports like jiu-jitsu and kick-boxing.

“I am not sure what career I want when I leave school yet, but it is good to know I could have this as an option.”

His father Anthony said: “Some people have a view that people who take part in this sport are brutes".

“But Jack is a well-educated, polite and lovely lad. He is not walking the streets at night causing trouble, but he can probably fight better than most kids in the north of England".

“His mother goes to bits when he is fighting, but afterwards she is proud of how well he does.”

Jack is the grandson of Tony McGann, chairman of the Eldonian community housing association, who has worked as a community volunteer in Vauxhall for more than 30 years.

Cage Gladiators 9: Beatdown takes place on Saturday. Ticket prices are £25, £30, £35 and £45 and VIP tables are £800 each.

Source: www.liverpoolecho.co.uk