Lee McGregor’s firm voice grows brittle as he talks about his grandfather, the man who shaped a young life laced with glory and tragedy perhaps more than anyone. Jim Aitchison died a little over three years ago, not long after McGregor went from hotshot amateur fighter to professional boxer ready to take the sport by the scruff. In that time, he lost his mother, a cousin, a grandmother and then his dear ‘granda’.
Jim wasn’t there to see his boy become a British and Commonwealth champion. He didn’t get to witness the spectacular first-round demolition of Karim Guerfi last Friday, to add the European bantamweight belt to McGregor’s burgeoning collection in just his 10th pro fight.
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