Brian Kennedy – “I was thinking twice about not even entering”
Brian Kennedy overcame a bout of sickness before overcoming a bout with Wayne Rafferty to become Irish Under-22 champion last week.
The Offaly light heavyweight emerged a unanimous decision winner after three tactical rounds with the Louth boxer at the National Stadium on Friday night to claim his sixth Irish title.
However, the St Mary’s Daingean fighter almost didn’t even enter the tournament.
Kennedy revealed to Irish-Boxing.com following the win that “to be honest I was sick there about a week and a half ago. I was getting vexed, I was in bad form, and I was thinking twice about not even entering. But I just kept going, kept training, training, training.”
On his performance itself, Kennedy noted how “I was happy enough with it. I got off slow enough, but I started to pick it up and start walking him down. It wasn’t my usual boxing, I’m usually on the back foot, but I just had to walk forward because he had that style as well. I knew if I tried to pick him off I wouldn’t have beaten him.”
“I just walked him down and tried to land big shots, which I did.”
That said, the 18 year old puncher predicts that there is plenty more to come, and promised that “you haven’t seen the best of me yet. Give me a few more years and I’ll step up and get bigger and stronger at the weight.”
“No messing after this now, I’ve to put my head down and hopefully I get picked for the Europeans”
Photo Credit: Ricardo Guglielminotti – The Fighting Irish (@ThefIrish)
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Eric Donovan joins Gavan Casey and Joe O’Neill on Episode 2 of the Irish Boxing Show:
