Beware of the Honeybadger Eddie Treacy

BEWARE OF THE HONEY BADGER

There were questions about ‘The Honey Badger’ Eddie Treacy when he announced that he was turning professional.

With very little amateur experience – an Irish Novice title being his biggest achievement – some doubted whether the Bray light middleweight would be able to cope with the rigours of professional boxing. Following his debut in October, however, a lot of questions were answered.

At the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght, Treacy vaporised Spaniard Ignasi Caballero in just 29 seconds – the quickest knockout of the year by an Irish boxer – in front of a raucous crowd in what was one of the most stunning debuts in recent memory. Now Treacy will return for fight number two on the massive ‘Celtic Clash 7’ bill at Good Counsel GAA club in Drimnagh, Dublin, on Saturday November 24th looking to make more statements.

Treacy turned a lot of heads last time out but he sheepishly admits it wasn’t how he envisioned his debut until he was confronted with an overly-aggressive Spaniard. “I was planning on four rounds,” he recalled. “The first round I was meant to feel him out on the jab but, when you have a lad running at you, it’s hard to do that. Then he lands one or two and you think ‘I look bad here’. So I had to go for it. “Honestly, that wasn’t the game plan. I was meant to stick to the boxing but when you’re in there you’re not having that. When he landed it looked bad on me so it was ‘let’s go’ time. I caught him with a right hand. I felt like it landed clean but I thought he was going to get back up. I was hoping he was so I could get a few rounds.”

Treacy is nicknamed ‘The Honey Badger’ after the ferocious African weasel-like creature which, despite only being as large as a medium-sized dog, are known for holding their own against lions. It’s an apt name for the 26-year-old who is quickly winning fans for his desire to face other Irish boxers with much more experience and pedigree than him. This may not happen on November 24th as the card is already jam-packed with three big all-Irish fights but don’t rule it out – and Treacy will be ready if it happens.

“I’d fight an Irish lad tomorrow, I mean that,” states Treacy, and you’d tend to believe him. “I am not just saying it and I would have fought one on my debut but, looking back now, it might be okay fighting a lad like Caballero just to get the feel of it, the feel of fighting and the whole experience around it. People say you might be nervous but I could just feel excitement through my body. It was mad. You’re buzzing especially when the crowd is going mental.”

“I just want to be involved in good scraps, good tear ups. Anyone can go fight journeymen but I want to fight good lads and give people their money’s worth. I don’t want to get in with lads that fall over with the first shot you land. I am 26 and you don’t have much time in this career, you want to be getting in the biggest fights possible. That’s the way I see it.”

The bubbly Bray boxer is different to most others on the current scene and he credits this to his background, exclaiming how “I only started boxing in 2015! I had been in and out for years as a kid but I only start taking it serious when I joined back in Summer 2015 after Mark Buckley set up his own club, St Teresa’s.”

“In terms of fights, I only had about 12 or 13 amateur fights. I won the Leinster novices and I won the National Novices as well I then had a couple of fights when the Semi-Pro Boxing Ireland was set up and I really enjoyed fighting on them shows. It had a great pro feel to it which I really enjoyed. I like to fight because I didn’t have a big amateur background, I’m not that technical, and I’m basically still learning in training every day.”

“My fighting style is a come-forward aggressive fighter. I do the same thing every time I get in the ring – I come forward and fight. A fight is a fight at the end of the day so I won’t be changing anything. My style would be more of a fighter than a boxer, fans can expect to see an exciting fight and get their money’s worth because I like to come forward and fight and put on a show for the crowd.”.