Sean Magee happy to have exhibition experience under the belt ahead of debut take-two

Sean Magee got to enjoy the bright lights, the custom-made shorts, and the screaming fans last month, but his professional record remains 0-0.

The Belfast featherweight was due to make his debut on the inaugural Kieran Farrell Promotions Irish show at The Devenish Complex, but a missed flight from Riga for Alexandrs Birkenbergs left Magee without an opponent and off the card.

While he was off the card, it was in more of a professional than a physical sense, and Magee engaged in a thoroughly enjoyable 4×2 minutes exhibition bout with Farrell stablemate Lee Clayton, much to the delight of his fans who still showed up in their droves.

While the record may be unchanged, Magee now has this experience in the bank ahead of his refixed debut – a fight date on the massive Sky Sports Belfast card on June 10th.

The North Belfast scrapper told Irish-Boxing.com that “I’m over the moon. It took a while to sink in – it didn’t feel real for a while!”

“I feel great now and I am very thankful to Kieran Farrell, John Breen, and my uncle Eamonn Magee for the hard work they put into me and getting me this opportunity.”

“What an opportunity to be on such a great bill and getting my debut on the big stage!”

Reflecting on his debut, there were certainly mixed emotions for Magee who described first and foremost how “I thought it was a cracking show, all the local lads winning and the crowd were brilliant – plus my two team mates getting the wins, Sean Higginson on his debut and Feargal McCrory winning his first title great night all round.”

“That morning when I got the phone call about the guy I was supposed to fight not coming over I was gutted.”

“Having done all the hard work then finding out I wasn’t getting my debut wasn’t a good feeling to be honest.”

“I felt like I was letting everyone who had bought tickets off me and were coming to support me down – but when I told them they were still behind me no matter what which was a good feeling.”

“In the end, still getting to do an exhibition and have a wee run out was a great feeling so I was happy and I knew my debut would come at some point.”

Magee believes the experience will stand his in good stead going forward. He agreed that “I’m glad I have the exhibition fight under my belt now, it will help me I think, I’ll know what to expect that wee bit more now.”

“Not that every fighter is the same, but it’s just nice to get the exhibition behind me and have that wee bit of experience going into this one.”

While the stage is very different that The Devenish Venue, Magee is focused on approaching this fight like any other and notes how “I go into every fight with the same mindset, I focus on getting into that ring and doing what I have to do and give my best no matter what the size of the crowd or occasion.

That said, there are measurable benefits to fighting on the bigger stage, and 27 year old Magee described how “he reaction has been amazing, I’m still getting people stopping me and asking me about the fight, congratulating me for getting on the bill, and wishing me all the best.”

“Lots of people been onto me about tickets already and I’m hoping to get a lot more contacting me about tickets.”

“The support I had last time was unreal. Hopefully I get the same if not more this time because they were all brilliant last time at The Devenish.”

Featuring alongside Magee on the Ryan Burnett v Lee Haskins undercard next month are Feargal McCrory, Matt Wilton, Tyrone McCullagh, Paul Hyland Jr, James Tennyson, Padraig McCrory, and Paddy Gallagher.

Tickets for ‘Belfast Boy’ on June 10th at the SSE Odyssey Arena cost £30, £40, £60, £100, and £150 (VIP), and can be bought from the boxers involved or HERE.

Photo Credit: Ricardo Guglielminotti – The Fighting Irish (@ThefIrish)

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