Gearoid Clancy ready to grab rematch revenge following Irish title disappointment
Galway lightweight Gearoid Clancy was embroiled in something of a minor controversy last year surrounding the Irish title but, where others would sulk and moan, the Sydney-based slugger has moved past this and straight into a high-profile rematch.
The fight-anyone Clancy [7(2)-4(0)] had been lined up for an Irish title fight with Belfast’s Paul Hyland on February 4th but, after securing two quick-fire wins Down Under, it emerged that he would not be sanctioned to fight for the title.
Clancy would not dwell on the disappointment and was quickly handed an opportunity to avenge his most recent defeat, so on Friday morning he will face Kiwi southpaw Nort Beauchamp [13(2)-1(0)] at the North Sydney Rugby League Club for the International Boxing Organisation Oceania lightweight belt.
It is a repeat of their meeting last July, which Beauchamp won on a relatively wide unanimous decision (99:91, 98;92, 97:93), but Clancy is confident he can exert revenge this weekend.
The former New South Wales champion was delighted to secure the opportunity, and explained that he quickly got over his Irish title false-start.
“To be honest, I was more disappointed for my family and friends at home,” he told Irish-Boxing.com.
“I just knew it would of been a great fight for the fans two proud Irish men putting it all on the line for their national title. But, to be honest I just moved on straight away and said ‘what’s next?'”
“I didn’t overthink it, as they say, when one door closes another opens and this IBO Oceania belt is a brilliant belt for me to get and move forward.”
The Oughterard man is a straight talker, and not one for making excuses. Describing what went wrong in his initial meeting with Beauchamp, he plainly admits that “I just didn’t turn up the first time, it’s that simple.”
Last time round, Clancy came into the bout off the back of a ten-round loss to Brendan Saunders. This time, the Connacht fighter has two wins in his last two fights and he is feeling extremely confident.
He outlined that “the main difference [for the rematch] is that I’m going to win.
“I’m after coming off two good wins and that was the plan all along, get those two wins and get a shot at a title – whether it be Irish title, Australian title, and it just so happened that the IBO Oceania title popped up against Nort and I jumped at it straight away.”
“The atmosphere is great in the gym after Darragh Foley’s big win and we had TJ [Doheny] back for a couple of weeks. It’s always good having him around the place, learning off him and picking little things up of him.”
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Gavan Casey and Joe O’Neill on Episode 4 of The Irish Boxing Show
