INTRODUCING – Glenn Byrne
Glenn Byrne joins the family business this weekend when he goes to work for his brother at the Red Cow.
Byrne is one of three debutants on ‘The Begining Card’ which his older sibling Jay Byrne promotes on Friday night.
In fact, the new-to-scene pro won’t just be promoted and managed by his family member, he will be coached by the former BBBofC Celtic champion.
The Loughlinstown native is more than happy to keep it in the family, pointing out any sibling rivalry is left for competitive spars. The 27-year-old also believes the JB Promotions boss is best suited to helping him along his pro journey as well as the perfect man to guide any young fight careers.
“I don’t think there is anyone better in Ireland to guide a professional career,” Byrne says.
“Jay has fought on big Sky Sports shows to small hall shows, he knows every part of the game. He’s worked with a lot of people in boxing too and has taken a lot from his experiences. It’s right to have him there as coach and manager,” he adds before explaining how the brothers-in-arms approach fits him personally.
“It’s perfect for me because I’ve got a busy life. I’m in college and I work, so my time is limited so working with your brother means I can tell him ‘I’m free these times’ and he’ll plan around me. That’s why I can’t train under anyone else, not that I would, but he creates the timetable to suit me.”
Byrne plans to do what his brother says not what his brother did throughout his career, suggesting he will have a different career path to his older sibling, coach, and manager.
Jay Byrne had a very unique boxing innings. The former Bray Wanderers player came to boxing late and found himself in the pro ring after a stint on the semi-pro circuit.
The 37-year-old, who only retired this year, mixed being competitive on the domestic scene – where he won two Celtic titles and challenged for the Irish strap – with taking risky away corner fights on TV cards in England.
That’s not the approach his younger brother will take. Glenn Byrne, who will look to campaign in and around middleweight, will walk a more traditional path.
“I’m happy to take learning fights,” he comments. “We’ll have different careers, he’s going to guide me right. He had to rush into fights because he started a lot older than me. I think I’ll have two years of learning fights, not just fights where I go in and bowl people over straight away.
“You don’t gain anything from that. People think you look brilliant knocking someone out in 30 seconds but you don’t gain anything from that. I want tough learning fights so when the rounds are over I know I’ve gained from it. I’ll have a period of learning fights where I’ll progressively get better against better opponents and then it will be time to make the good fights.”
Byrne will debut against Allan White, a Newry native, in the Warehouse at the Red Cow on a card that also hosts fights for Dubliner’s Luke Keeler, Tony McGylnn and Declan Geraghty, and is excited to start a family-oriented career.
“‘I’m buzzing. It means a lot to me to fight in front of my family and friends. I think it will be one of the better shows run in Dublin in a long time, so to feature on it and with it being the first one of hopefully a good successful career for JB Promotions I’m buzzing to get going.”
