TO compare a young featherweight boxer to Barry McGuigan is rather like telling an artist he paints like Picasso.

But a growing number in the fight-game believe Romsey's Henry Castle might just have what it takes to follow in the Irishman's world championship winning footsteps.

Forget the likes of Bruno, Hamed and Lewis, McGuigan was surely the most popular British boxer of the past 20 years.

Those fight-nights in the King's Hall, Belfast and when he was crowned world champion at QPR's Loftus Road, captured the imagination on both sides of the Irish sea and were among the most electrifying of all time.

And there are few as well-placed to make the McGuigan/Castle comparison as Phil Rooney, a McGuigan family friend who now closely follows Castle at Salisbury ABC.

"Henry has got a great following and has an all-action style," says Rooney. "And like Barry he is known for his wicked body punching.

"He has a diet like a fashion model and is in fabulous shape - the world is his oyster.

"There are those who will say I'm going over the top, but we are all entitled to our opinion and this is mine."

Castle's connections with the Irish fight scene do not end with the McGuigan likeness.

He has previously sparred with Belfast-born Rooney's nephew Damaen Kelly, a two-time world champion, and he even befriended former Northern Ireland secretary Mo Mowlam on a flight from Ireland earlier in the year!

Tomorrow night Castle will appear live on Sky Sports at the Derby Storm arena when he goes for his eighth straight professional win against John Mackay, a hard-hitting super- bantamweight from Canning Town, London.

The 23-year-old is fighting on world cruiserweight champion Johnny Nelson's bill and it promises to be his hardest test to date, with Ugandan-born Mackay ranked as high as number four in the British ratings.

His camp are confident, but taking nothing for granted in what will be his first eight-round fight.

"I've trained hard, feel in great shape and am looking forward to the fight," says Castle.

The former ABA featherweight champion has been sharpening up at the Maloney Fight Factory on the Old Kent Road before heading back south under the watchful eye of long-time trainer Fred Phillips.

His last fight was in August when he demolished Manchester's Joel Viney in just 86 seconds.

Phillips believes Castle can go right to the top, but for now is fully focused on tomorrow's assignment.

"It is all going very well and he is looking absolutely vicious in training," he says.

"This week has been spent just sharpening up with training in shorter rounds and shorter intervals.

"We are confident, but not over-confident. He has trained properly and there is no way we are going to underestimate his opponent."

With Kevin Sanders and promoter Frank Warren in his management corner, Castle certainly has the necessary heavyweight backing to realise his ambitions.

The next Barry McGuigan? You read it here first.