Brennan Baromoter – Olympian Provides Debutant Sean O’Bradaigh With Progress Gauge
Sean O’Bradaigh makes his pro bow on a massive Irish card in Madison Square Garden live on UFC Fight Pass but it’s the fact he shares a bill with Emmet Brennan proves more of a pinch me moment for the Irish New Yorker.
The son of a Dub puts his bachelor’s degree in real estate finance on the back burner to make his passion his job – and begins a professional boxing journey on the Walsh-Sutherland bill this coming Sunday.
It’s the perfect platform and, thus, a dream start for the well-supported 22-year-old light heavyweight.
However, it’s not the prospect of fighting in front on a world wide audience or gracing the famous Garden ring without a vest that make him take note most. Rather, it’s being on a bill with the Dublin Dockland’s graduate.
“I first met Emmet Brennan when I had one amateur fight,” O’Braidaigh explains.
“I met him in New Hampshire right after Tokyo when Quigley fought Andrade for the world title. I met him at a bar after that fight. I knew who he was because he was an Olympian for Ireland, and I looked up to him. I’ve been in contact with him since and anytime I go to Dublin, I train and spar with him at Dublin Docklands.
“When I met him, he was levels above me. He was an Olympian, and I had one fight. It was a joke when we’d train, but now he can text me, and we can spar when he is in New York. Now it’s really sparring. That’s just crazy for me. I used to look up to him so much, and now we are on the same pro card. It just shows you how far you’ve come and what you can achieve. It’s almost full circle.”
O’Braidaigh, who fought Gabriel Dossen in the Elites two years ago and is Irish managed, has fought at the Garden before. Indeed, his greatest amateur nights played out at the Mecca of boxing, not that previous MSG experience takes away from his excitement.
“It’s an honour and pleasure and I can’t wait,” he adds.
“It’s unbelievable, [my two amateur fights there] were in the Theather which is not the main arena but it’s just the building. It’s the same thing when you walk into MSG, it’s the same entrance. It just feels unbelievable,” he continues before discussing his decision to turn over.
“I was in college in New York and I finished classes in December, so it was either I pursue this fully or it was use my degree and do somthing corporate. Boxing always gave me a reason to get up in the morning. It’s more of a passion and when I saw I could have my debut on this card, it was a real no-brainer.”
