Big-Punching Brett – “I felt after the second I had the job done”

Commonwealth Youth silver medalist Brett McGinty claimed Irish title number eight on Friday night at the National Stadium.

The Donegal welter retained his Under-18 crown with a third round stoppage over Bay City’s 2015 World Junior bronze medalist Paul Ryan and most likely guaranteed his spot on the Irish squad for the World Youth Championships in Russia this November.

Afterwards McGinty spoke to Irish-Boxing.com about the win and admitted that “it was always going to be a tough fight for me.”

“He’s won a World bronze medal so I was expecting a tricky fight.”

“The first round was very close but I felt good and I knew straight away in the second round that my body shots would play a big part.

“I really put the pressure on in the second and I could feel Paul tiring. I felt after the second I had the job done.”

“Third round I came out fast and it was much the same as the second – the ref gave two standing counts and that was the job done thankfully.”

The final was another exhibition of the punching power possessed by the Oak Leaf boxer who had also stopped Jamie Harty in the quarter finals. While McGinty definitely has a killer instinct – his was the only final to end inside the distance – he explained that he doesn’t go head-hunting or looking for a stoppage. He described how “I wouldn’t go looking for a knockout, but in the two fights in the championship I felt my opponents were hurt so I done everything I could to get them out of there.”

McGinty is now likely to feature at the World Youth Championships in St Petersburg where he will be aiming to be among the medals after an agonising exit at the European Youths this Summer to Armenian Gurgen Madoyan. The Donegal teen noted how “the Europeans was actually a reverse from 2012 [European Schoolboys] – I had beaten the Armenian for a bronze medal, but unfortunately he beat me this time.”

“But it has definitely spurred me on for the upcoming Worlds and motivated me to retain my Under-18 title.”

In his final year as an underage boxer, McGinty could be forgiven for eyeing up the Irish senior 69kg spot which will most likely soon be vacated by Steven Donnelly. Indeed immediately after the World Youths he will faced with the possibility of entering the Intermediate Championships. When asked, the quietly confident Ulsterman outlined how “I’ll see what my coaches think about them and we’ll take it from when we come back from the Worlds – but they’re definitely two competitions I would like to make my mark on.”