How good am I ?

Big Ears

I'm paraphrasing somewhat, but this was the same question I heard 2 Irish boxers ask themselves recently.

Eric Donovan and Niall Kennedy had quite differing levels of success in the amateur game, but hold quite a few similarities these days. Both have turned pro in the last couple of years, both are in their early 30's, and both are starting to make waves in their careers....albeit on opposite sides on the Atlantic.

Part One, 'Lilywhite Lightening'
Donovan aka 'Lilywhite Lightening' will be a household name to those of you who follow amateur boxing. He's a 5 time Irish Elite (Senior) champion, he won Bronze at the EU championships (2009) and a full European Bronze a year later in 2010. He was one fight away from reaching the 2008 Olympics, losing to the fantastic Italian Domenico Valentino in the last 16. He was once ranked top 10 in the World as an amateur, and gained revenge on Valentino (who by then had become a World champion).

Donovan was pretty much as good as an amateur can be without getting to the Olympics, and it still seems to irk him to this day.
Anyway, he recently turned pro, and had been chalking up the wins against the usual modest opposition for a fighter getting accustomed to the pro game.
His last fight however was a much sterner test.
Faced with Dai Davies, the Welshman is a much better fighter than his record suggests. With some strong wins over the likes of Robbie Turley (Commonwealth Super-Bantamweight champion), Andy Townend (English Super-Featherweight champion), Ashley Lane (About to challenge for the Commonwealth Bantamweight title) and Marco McCullough (Irish Featherweight champion, fought for the British title in his last fight), pretty much anyone who beats this guy is capable of operating in and around British title (or equivalent) level.
Most of the bout with Davies can be seen here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mlnTPVxcMM

His next bout will be on December 2nd at the National Stadium, headlining a show Co-Promoted by Leonard Gunning, who used to post here under the names Sligobhoy67 and Slapbanhwallop, no idea if he does anymore.
Donovan will be facing Juan Luiz Gonzalez, in a defence of his BUI Celtic title he won in the bout vs Davies.
Gonzalez may be known to some Irish fans, he fought Jono Carroll last year over in Scotland, and was slated to be Donovan's opponent for his 4th fight but was forced to withdraw.

One very interesting thing about this match up is O'Donovan's stated aim in the pro game. He has targeted the European title as a goal for his professional ambitions, and Gonzalez fought the current European champion (Marc Vidal) only last year. Which you can take a look at here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMWOnRspz3o

I don't know how long Vidal will reign as European champion, but if that's the standard which O'Donovan has to meet to achieve his goal, I think he has a serious chance of achieving it !

The 42.ie did a short documentary on Lilywhite Lightening recently which gives a good insight into the man

It's late, this post is getting long and I don't want to write anymore , so tomorrow I'll be writing up a second part on Niall Kennedy. The Gorey Heavyweight who scored a big win for himself over in America just last week, bringing him a boxrec ranking of 63rd in the World....not bad for a 33 year old full-time Gard who wasn't able to win an Irish Elite title as an amateur.

Big Ears

A bit late getting around to this but anyway:

Niall Kennedy or 'Baz' as he seems to be affectionately known by his supporters (I haven't a fecking notion why, so if anyone wants to inform me please do ), is forging a very decent career for himself over in the Eastern United States.

Not that unusual I suppose that an Irishman is getting himself fights on that part of the planet. Probably a bit more unusual when he's living in Ireland and training at the Celtic Warrior Gym in Dublin (as do 'Spike' O'Sullivan and Ray Moylette)...but still not exactly trailblazing. The fact he's working full-time as a Garda in Wexford, and commuting to Dublin to train, while fighting over in New England does make the Gorey native stand out.
The fact an unaccomplished (with no disrespect to Kennedy) amateur in Kennedy is getting some big wins over in the States as a professional and collecting belts in the process, well that stands out even more.

Kennedy's best result as an amateur was Getting to the Elite Senior Final in 2013, and losing to Sean Turner. In fact one of the unusual things about all this is that 2 of the big Heavyweight names in Irish boxing in Con Sheehan and the aforementioned Turner, are struggling badly as professionals.
Both have struggled for meaningful fights, both are seemingly struggling to progress and Turner has already picked up a loss on his record.
Yet Kennedy is winning, and impressing, picking up the Massachusetts state title two fights ago, and the New England Heavyweight title in his last fight.
He had to beat a very good fighter in Alexis Santos to win his last fight.
Which you can see here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rx16CyynSl0

In just over two years and 9 fights, Kennedy has achieved more as a pro than he ever did as an amateur. It doesn't seem to be slowing down either. Up to the Santos fight Kennedy was on a fight by fight contract with Ken Casey/Murphy's boxing. He's now been given a promotional deal with Murphy's boxing. I've no idea how lucrative this contract is, but if he has any potential to do it, a career break from the Gardai for a couple of years mightn't be the worst of ideas as he looks to progress his pro career.
Kennedy is never going to win a World title, but he does have the potential to win at the domestic (NABA/NABF/NABO/USBA) level in the United States and get himself relatively big fights. He's got an excellent jab, works the body well, takes a shot well, and can last a 10 round pace.

As for Ray Moylette, just like as an amateur he really is an enigma. I've not been impressed by the majority of what I've seen. Too easy to hit, not a big enough puncher, and generally not looking like a guy who's going to go too far. Then all of a sudden he might put a combo together, and for 20 seconds he'll look like a World Class prospect.
If I was to put money on it, I'd say he won't go that far, but they should be careful with him and bring him along as best they can.....because on the right night he could prove to be lightening in a bottle.

Don Kiddick

https://m.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/boxing/i-was-only-after-watching-borat-irelands-forgotten-boxer-on-his-journey-from-kazakhstan-to-an-unlikely-pro-career-36367579.html

Going to tag this on here as I could find no other place for it, but a good look at the life of Eric Donovan a decent pro

Big Ears

Donovan returns to the ring tomorrow night at the National Stadium, in a fight vs Juancho Gonzalez. As mentioned in the article above, Andy Lee is coaching him for this fight. An interesting partnership, and one which makes you think Andy really does have one foot out the door of professional boxing.
Gonzalez is clearly coming with the intention of winning this bout, since O'Donovan's win over Davies, 'El Pitbull' has managed to fit in two tune up wins to get himself ready for this. There's a couple of all-Irish scraps on the card aswell, and it's a decent small hall show for anyone to head to tomorrow if they're not busy.

Niall Kennedy also has a fight scheduled at the moment. His bout appears to be a tune up more than anything else against the 6-3 Danny Calhoun on the 12 of December in Massachusetts. It's an 8 rounder, but Kennedy really should get the job done inside the distance.