Tales from the Ring

In this episode, I look back at the career of Ray Close. Ray was a very successful amateur boxer at Ledley Hall boxing club were he was trained by the legendary, Herbie Young. He would win multiple Irish titles including back to back Elite titles in 1987 and 1988. I look back at the decision to controversially leave him out of the Olympic team for the Seoul Games in 1988. Ray's pro career woul...

In this epidsode, I look back at 2002 WBU Light-Welterweight contest between Ricky Hatton and Eamonn Magee. The highly anticipated fight was one of the biggest fights of that year and was billed 'Anarchy in the UK'. I talk about my own memories of the fight and why I feel it is an Irish boxing fight to remember.

Eamonn Magee grew up in Ardoyne during the height of the troubles. He was the youngest of 4 boys who would all find their safe place in Sacred Heart ABC. Eamonn was a real talent as an amateur winning 10 Irish titles as well as multiple multi-nation gold medals. He also claimed a silver medal at the World junior championships in Puerto Rico, 1989. Eamonn talks about his disappointment at missing o...

On this weeks episode, I chat about the journey to 100 episodes and the plans for the future. A massive thank you to all my guests and to everyone that has listened over the years.

Michael begins by reflecting on the immediate aftermath of his highly controversial exit from the 2016 Olympics. Following this pivotal moment, he shifted his focus to professional boxing, opting to partner with Top Rank promotions in the United States. Michael discusses the process of relocating with his family to the U.S. and recounts his early successes in the professional arena. It wasn’t long...

Paul Quinn and I debate our Top 10 Super-Middleweight's of all time. We cover fighters from the past 40 years on both sides of the pond. We debate our different criteria's and examine each boxers achievements and CV. Do you agree with our selections? Have a listen and let us know who makes your Top 10 list.

Eamonn Magill is a professional boxing referee and amateur boxing coach in North Belfast. He talks about his childhood growing up in Dublin, moving North at a young age and how he first joined the Sacred Heart Amateur Boxing Club in the Bone are of North Belfast as a kid. He would leave boxing in his teenage years, but the love of the sport was always there. Years after Sacred Heart closed its doo...

The Walsh name in County Wexford is one of the most famous in Irish boxing. Dean Walsh's family history was steeped in boxing with his father and uncles winning countless Irish titles. His uncle Billy in particular was one of Wexford's greatest sportsmen, so it was no surprise that Dean joined a boxing club at only 7 years of age. Over the course of his incredible amateur career, he would win 13 I...

Michael Conlan grew up in West Belfast and comes from a family steeped in boxing, so it was no surprise that he would follow in his brothers footsteps to Clonard ABC at only 8 years of age. He was always a young boxer who was full of confidence in the ring and winning an Irish title in his first year set him on his way in amateur boxing. Michael opens up about going down the wrong path in his teen...

Paul Quinn and I chat about all the main talking points from the last month in Irish and World boxing. We review the recent huge card at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium featuring the brutal war between Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn. We also discuss if Irish boxing now has a new star after Aaron McKenna's fantastic performance to defeat Liam Smith on the undercard. We then turn our attention to this pas...

Danny chats to me growing up in Cork and his start in boxing. He had a very successful amateur career, winning 3 Irish National titles and represented Ireland at the European championships. He would decide to travel to Australia as many lads would in their late teens, but he would soon stumble across a boxing gym and continue his journey on the other side of the world. He would turn professional o...

Paul grew up in Sheffield, England and talks about his upbringing which included spending some years in Jamaica as a kid. He had a modest amateur career in his own words, but it was always Paul's ambition to turn professional and he would begin his pro career with very mixed results, winning only 3 of his first 7 contests. Paul was eager to improve and spent a number of years training and fighting...

Paul Quinn and I debate our dream all time fantasy matchups in world boxing. We cover fighters from various decades and generations to build the ultimate dream card featuring some of our favourite fighters ever. Let us know who would make your shortlist and if you agree with who we feel would come out on top of our matchups.

Neil Gough is a former 8 x Irish Elite champion from County Waterford and is widely regarded as one of the greatest amateur boxers Ireland has ever produced. He talks about his early years at St. Paul's ABC under his hugely influential coach, John Finn. We chat about his early amateur career and his competitive rivalry with Eddie Fisher during his Intermediate years. We then go through his ama...

Matthew Tyndall Jr grew up in Bray, Co. Wicklow and comes from a family steeped in boxing. Matthew talks about walking into a boxing gym at only 4 years of age and how Katie Taylor would become a huge inspiration to him growing up. Matthew would have immediate success winning an Irish title in his very first year. Throughout his illustrious amateur career, he would win 9 Irish national titles and...

James Moore grew up in Arklow, County Wicklow and was in a boxing gym from 6 years of age. His amateur career was in his own words a “late developer” in fact he never won an Irish title at schoolboy, youth or junior level in the early days. It wasn’t long until he would start to have great success beginning with an Irish Intermediate title in 1997. The goal was always to win that National Elite ti...

Paul Quinn and I chat about all the main talking points from the last month in Irish and World boxing. We review the recent fights involving Irish boxers including, Tyrone McKenna, TJ Doheny, Paddy Donovan, Lewis Crocker, Feargal McCrory, Callum Walsh and Donagh Keary. We also look back at the massive Saudi card featuring the rematch between Bivol and Beterviev amongst many others. We preview some...

This week, I look back at some of the greatest wins away from home involving Irish boxers. I go right back over the past 100 years and put together a list featuring over 40 boxers at both amateur and professional level. Please let me know of some of your favourite memories and let me know if there are any boxers that deserve a special mention.

I look back at this weekend's much anticipated show at the SSE Arena, Belfast featuring the mouth watering contest between Lewis Crocker and Paddy Donovan as well as a stacked undercard. I talk about my experience of being in the arena and go through each contest that I watched. I am then joined by our resident guest, Paul Quinn to chat about the controversial main event which resulted in Lewi...

Paul Quinn and I debate our dream All Irish matchups over the years. We cover fighters from various decades and generations to build the ultimate dream card featuring some of our greatest fighters. Let us know who would make your shortlist.

On this weeks episode, I will be looking back at some of the greatest families in Irish professional boxing. This will cover almost 100 years in the sport and many different families will be featured. We have brothers, fathers and sons, uncles-nephews and many more connections. Let me know of any families that you think deserve a special mention and apologies if I have missed any families out.

Paul Quinn and I talk about some of the big talking points from the last month in Irish and world boxing. We preview some of the massive cards involving Irish fighters starting with Lewis Crocker v Paddy Donovan at the SSE Arena. We also give our thoughts on the great undercard featuring, Padraig McCrory v Craig Richards and Tommy McCarthy v Steven Ward amongst others. We also look ahead to the mo...

Tiernan Bradley is currently undefeated as a professional boxer and he has set his sights on major titles in 2025. On the episode, Tiernan talks me through his journey growing up in County Tyrone, winning countless Irish titles as well as claiming European and Commonwealth medals in the amateur ranks. He also discusses his adventures in countries such as Russia, Samoa and the USA . During the jour...

Connor Coyle has the current longest unbeaten streak of any Irish professional boxer (21-0). The Derry native has been based in Florida, USA throughout his professional career and is deep in camp for his upcoming fight at Madison Square Garden against Vito Mielnicki Jr for WBC, WBO and USBA International titles on Valentines Day. On the podcast, Connor firstly talks about his upbringing in Derry a...

Paul Quinn and I debate our Top 10 Heavyweight's of all time. We cover fighters from past generations right up to the modern day greats. We debate our different criteria's and examine each boxers achievements and CV. It's fair to say our lists might be the most controversial yet with some amazing names missing out on both of our lists. Do you agree with our selections? Have a listen and let us kno...