No point in fighting people who fall over when a breeze comes says Sheehan
It wasn’t quite leaving cert maths, but as far as debut tests go Jonathan Rice was challenging and daunting enough.
In the context of first pro foes the American’s numbers were impressive. Rice came into the fight unbeaten in three and with two first round KO’s to his name not to mention he weighed in at 245lbs.
Regardless of impressive numbers Irish heavyweight prospect Con Sheehan by all accounts had the American’s number and a controlled performance lead to a comfortable points win.
The Tipperary big man claims he wasn’t worried about the challenge Rice brought pre fight, but concede the American was above the level of your average debut opponent.
However, that is the way he wants it. The six time Irish amateur champion wants to learn and be tested as he moves his way up the ladder. He certainly doesn’t want fall over merchants and a padded record.
“He was a very big strong fighter and good technically too, but it’s like i said when I first turned pro there is no point fighting guys who fall down from a strong breeze,” Sheehan told Irish-boxing.com.
“That wouldn’t help me or bring me on. Tuesday was kinda start as you mean to go on. Virgil (Hunter) sees what I’m doing in the gym day on a day to day basis so he’s very comfortable starting me in hard fights.”
Tuesday represented Sheehan’s first taste of pro life and although he enjoyed the experience and felt relieved to finally get the ball rolling in the paid ranks he claims once in the ring there wasn’t much different to his amateur days.
“It was a brilliant experience and a relief to get it out of the way to be honest. I was very anxious because i hadn’t boxed competitively since 2014 and wasn’t starting out with a easy opponent, but over all i really enjoyed it,” he added before addressing the differences between pro and amateur trading.
“There was nothing really that surprised me in that regard to be honest. Once the bell rings i know what to do and what to expect. I’ve been doing this long enough so there wasn’t much difference in that sense. It’s a fight at the end of the day.”
