‘Sugar’ Ray Ginley looking ahead after debut win

Joining his brother Mark on the paid boxing circuit for the first time, Belfast light-heavyweight Raymond Ginley is eager to get straight back in to the ring and chalk up win number two. It looked like being a longer night for the debutant after opponent Stuart

Maddox came out with fire in his belly and landed a couple of jarring shots on the nervous youngster, but once ‘Sugar’ Ray loosened up and let his shots go it wasn’t long before the referee was rescuing the away man from further discomfort.

“He caught me with a shot and it woke me up a bit so I started boxing,” admitted Ginley, when we finally caught up with him after a post-fight parade of meeting and greeting the numerous fans. “I was very nervous at the start of the bout and I’ve been nervous all week because it’s my first pro fight and I haven’t boxed in nearly a year. I did a lot of talking leading up to my debut and when it came to this morning I realized that I was going to have to back up all my talking! Paul (McCullagh) said before the fight ‘You’ve done all the talking now go out and do the work’.”

Ginley’s excessive talking just heightened the expectation of his first bout and later in the evening his fighting sibling Mark made it a family double. The only thing that Raymond did not manage during an opening round knockout was to remove his man in the shortest time of all the home fighters. Club mate Anthony Cacace blasted his man [Ben Wager] just a few seconds earlier.

“I was just looking for a win so getting the knockout was a bonus,” said Ray. “I was expecting Cacace to knock his man out because he’s such an unbelievable talent. I want to move on and get the next one lined up. I’d love to get on the Irish Prizefighter bill or Rogie’s bill with Tyson Fury.”

The Fury bill would appear as a more realistic proposition for a one-fight novice, who fought on the night at 12st 9lb, than the Prizefighter middleweight tournament. The ex-Oliver Plunkett amateur competitor is still looking to bring his weight down as he continues along the learning curve.

“Since I started sparring my weight has come down and I’m going to be campaigning at super-middleweight and my next fight will probably be around 12st 6lb. I didn’t even get time tonight to see if I was rusty because once I started boxing I caught him with three jabs and then then let the right hand go.
“I was hoping it [my debut] would go a bit longer but I’ll just enjoy my victory and relax,” he concluded.