The Rocky Road

"Look, his mother was all over the shop, I had to ring Paschal, Spike, Craig O’Brien, right, and Big Niall Kennedy, ‘Do us a favour lads, will you explain to his mother, he’s not going to be in an intensive care unit after the fight this weekend’." Joining us today on The Rocky Road are father-and-son duo Roddy and Podge Collins. Podge is now a professional boxer, making his debut in October when...

‘This how she fight – head down, balls to the wall!’ Roy Jones Jr is on The Rocky Road this week as we reflect on the epic second fight between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano fight in Texas. Taylor won the day – again – to retain her undisputed world light-welterweight crown. But did she deserve to get the nod? And, after having a point docked for use of the head, and seeing the eye injury Serran...

Welcome to Part 2 of our interview with Kieran Farrell. In Part 1 we spoke about his part in Daniel Dubois’ stunning destruction of Anthony Joshua at Wembley Stadium, how he came to work with the heavyweight knockout artist and where he thinks DDD is going next. Here, Kieran talks about growing up in Heywood, also known as Monkey Town (you’ll find out why, and there’s an Irish connection). Kieran...

Katie Taylor v Amanda Serrano – the rematch is here. We’re joined today by Gavan Casey from The 42, who’s chronicled so much of Taylor’s career to date with consistency and insight. In April 2022 the pair had a war for the ages at Madison Square Garden in New York. Taylor got the nod – with a few shaky moments in the middle. The rematch – and even a trilogy – was immediately suggested but getting...

“Jimmy is a great coach, loved him when he travelled to international training camps with Ireland, great pad man.” When you’re getting praise like this from the notoriously hard-to-please Paddy Barnes, then you must be doing something right. And today’s guest Jimmy Halpin has been doing something right for 40 years now. Before that, the young Dubliner had talent as a boxer but didn’t quite manage...

Kellie McLoughlin is a three-time Irish champion boxer who’s looking to make the breakthrough to win her first Elite crown. Standing in her way is two-time Olympian Michaela Walsh, who’s ruled her division in Ireland with an iron fist for over a decade. But with McLoughlin and featherweight rival Kelsey Leonard determined to unseat Walsh this year, will there be a changing of the guard in this cor...

One kid’s named after former world heavyweight champ Joe Frazier, another’s named after… Irish Olympian Jude Gallagher. That’s Kieran Farrell, a boxing man to his bones, and this week’s guest on The Rocky Road. After Manchester Irishman Liam Gallagher had warmed up the 96000 raving punters at Wembley a few weeks ago, Daniel Dubois marched into the ring and pulled off a superb upset win over Anthon...

This week’s guest is doing things a bit back to front. Mostly boxers will finish their careers before going into the media – but Lurgan man Lee Gormley has done it the other way around. Lee has a degree in sports journalism and has covered the bloody business for outlets such as the Boxing News and Boxing Monthly. That passion for boxing ultimately led to him putting on the gloves as an amateur –...

Steve Bunce has spent 40 years writing and talking about boxing for just about every newspaper and magazine in Britain – and just about every TV and radio station as well. In his career he’s reported at ringside in over 30 countries and rubbed shoulders with hustlers and hoodlums, kings and clowns, journeymen and Hall of Fame fighters. To use one of my favourite lines of his, that’s boxing, as the...

In Part 2 with Ryan Burnett, he's a man on the brink. After years of hard work, bordering on obsessiveness, he's about to reach the pinnacle. But winning the world title doesn't give him contentment because it doesn't give him financial freedom; not yet anyway. Here, he talks about becoming world champion with victory over Lee Haskins back in Belfast, where sparring partner Carl Frampton has built...

Mercedas Taaffe-Cooper is an Irish boxing pioneer. A competitor in the 90s when female fighters were thin on the ground, she sparred with Deirdre Gogarty and boxed alongside Jane Couch. She was also one of the first female coaches in the country, guiding the Reynolds brothers, Stephen and Alan, who won a combined 12 senior titles at the National Stadium. Here, Merc talks about the struggle fo...

It’s a heavyweight special today as we’re joined by Ireland’s top man in the showbiz division, undefeated Dublin banger Thomas ‘The Bomber’ Carty. Carty was on with us three years ago as a 1-0 pro and since then his picked up some momentum. He’s fought at the O2 in London, the Nottingham Arena, Wembley Arena and York Hall in the UK. And he’s managed to fulfil part one of the pro dream by boxing on...

Ryan Burnett reckons the secret to his boxing success was always asking, 'Why?' A superb athlete who could carry out instructions to the letter, he was also a sponge, capable of remembering and repeating the guidance he was given. That saw him rise to the top of boxing, ultimately becoming the first Irishman to unify world titles, and now it's led to him becoming one of the most sought-after coach...

Anto Cacace is the feel-good story of Irish pro boxing this year. Or any other year to be fair. He's always had class but Cacace has never had much luck, with every step forward followed by the inevitable three steps back. Until now. His victory over the undefeated Joe Cordina in Riyadh in May was an unforgettable moment for Cacace and his supporters everywhere. We believe it was on...

Welcome to Part 2 of our interview with rising star Pierce O'Leary. Last time we took a stroll around the Docklands as Big Bang told us all about growing up in Sheriff Street and his desire to become even more of a local hero. In this episode we sat down to talk about his career so far which has taken him to the brink of world title honours. Here Pierce discusses his dream fights, beating Dar...

This week we're in Sheriff Street in Dublin's capital for Part 1 of an interview with local hero Pierce O'Leary. We take a walk around with unbeaten world title hopeful Big Bang while he spends some time at home between fight dates. Pierce talks about his love for the community, the pride he feels for the area and the drive it gives him to dig deep in his toughest battles. Once the bustling heartl...

Kellie Harrington is the double Olympic lightweight champion. Let's state that again. Kellie Harrington is the back-to-back Olympic champion. The first Irish boxer to reach two finals - and she won them both. Kenneth Egan joins The Rocky Road podcast today to go over her incredible journey, how she got here and where she's going. We rewatch the nine incredible minutes that saw her sail to victory...

Paul Griffin was training under Brendan Ingle, alongside world featherweight champ Prince Naseem Hamed, promoted by Frank Warren and about to put his unbeaten record on the line. Then the Dean Pithie fight happened and suddenly it seemed like the prince of Dublin boxing was set for the scrapheap. No longer needed by the fight bosses, and with the lure of the party life back home proving too strong...

We love Paul Griffin here at The Rocky Road. He's been on twice before - for the 30th anniversary of his epic 1991 European gold medal, and 30 years on from Barcelona 92, alongside medallists Michael Carruth and Wayne McCullough. Now he joins us for a deep dive on his 15-year professional career across a two-part episode. He started out under Frank Warren on a 'Prince' Naseem Hamed card in Scotlan...

Michael Conlan is not leaving. After a devastating 2023 in which he lost his second world title shot to Luis Alberto Lopez - followed by defeat against Jordan Gill in Belfast - he seriously considered hanging up the gloves. However he refreshed his mind and body by joining a running club and ran a sub-three hour marathon, he realised he had more to offer the boxing game. Conlan is now between trai...

From July 27 to August 10, we'll be all about Olympic boxing once again. Ireland will send a 10-strong team to Paris 2024 with every boxer there dreaming of a place on top of the podium to follow in the footsteps of Michael Carruth, Katie Taylor and Kellie Harrington. In this episode I'm sitting down with middleweight Aoife O'Rourke and bantamweight Jenny Lehane. O'Rourke, from Roscommon, is about...

From July 27 to August 10, we'll be all about Olympic boxing once again. Ireland will send a 10-strong team to Paris 2024 with every boxer there dreaming of a place on top of the podium to follow in the footsteps of Michael Carruth, Katie Taylor and Kellie Harrington. In this episode, I'm sitting down with featherweight Jude Gallagher and light-welterweight Dean Clancy, who've risen through t...

From July 27 to August 10, we'll be all about Olympic boxing once again. Ireland will send a 10-strong team to Paris 2024 with every boxer there dreaming of a place on top of the podium to follow in the footsteps of Michael Carruth, Katie Taylor and Kellie Harrington. In this episode, I'm sitting down with two boxers who qualified at the final tournament in Bangkok - Grainne Walsh and Daina Mooreh...

We’re all on a high at the minute after four more boxers booked their ticket to Paris 2024. It means Ireland have qualified a record ten boxers for the Olympic Games this summer. The final qualifier in Bangkok had ups and downs for the Ireland team but ultimately Daina Moorehouse, Grainne Walsh, Jennifer Lehane and Aidan Walsh got over the line. Our guest Lynne O’Shea was there as a member of the...

John Joe Nevin is one of Ireland’s greatest ever amateur boxers - and some would say THE greatest. He completed the full set of medals - two World Championships bronze (2009, 2011), European Championships gold (2013) and Olympic Games silver (2012). Along the way he put in some of the finest performances Irish boxing fans have ever seen, with the best undoubtedly his London 2012 semi-final win ove...