Baby Bang Casey steps into National Spotlight
Terry Casey holds a medal rather and a cup of tea while posing for the latest picture worthy of the wall in his Limerick home.
11 years on from playing a starring role in one of the greatest press conference photos of all time, the Southside Boxing Academy fighter was in the spotlight for significant ring success.
The 15-year-old fighter won both Limerick and Munster titles in a busy February for the latest Casey of the production line. The youngest son of former European super-bantamweight champion Willie Casey won the Junior 1 title at 48KG in Cork last weekend – and will now target Irish success.
Casey was just one of the hundreds of young fighters competing in a provincial tournament but similar to Ella Thompson, who won Leinster Girl 4 honours over the same weekend, the wider public have been introduced to him before.
In January of 2011 a then-4-year-old Casey was snapped sipping tea in Thomand Park blissfully unaware he was in the presence of one of the greatest amateur fighters of all time, Guillermo ‘The Jackal’ Rigondeaux, and the man his father was preparing to fight.
Cuban Rigondeaux, a two-time Olympic champ, also seemed unperturbed at the announcement he would be putting his WBA World super-bantamweight title on the line against ‘Big Bang’.
10 years ago today, the great Cuban boxer Guillermo Rigondeaux and four-year-old Terry Casey, son of Willie ‘Big Bang’ Casey, at Thomond Park. Rigondeaux fought, and beat, Big Bang at Citywest in March 2011.
— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) January 31, 2021
📷: @Diarmuid_G / @sportsfile pic.twitter.com/JXdTg4mfi0
The Limerick teen must have paid more attention come March 19 when ‘Rigo’ – who was managed to world title success by Irish man Gary Hyde – defeated his father, as his style is said to be a lot slicker than the one adopted by his extremely popular Limerick southpaw.
