Stateside:Jamie Kavanagh Q and A
www.irish-boxing.com ’s newest team member Joseph Taylor’s new regular feature Stateside. Each month Joe will sit down with an Irish American fighter or a an Irish fighter based across the Atlantic for a question and answers session. This month Joe chatted with Jamie Kavanagh.
Fact File
Jamie Kavanagh has won over 180 fights as an amateur. In 2001 the Kavnagh started his six-year reign as the Dublin Regional gold medal champion. The Wild Card prospect won a gold medal at the Four Nation Championships,fighting athletes from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.His Cv also boasts Irish national championships in 2002-2003 and probably more impressively took home the silver medal at the 2008 youth world amateur boxing championships
Jamie Kavanagh is in good hands, he is promoted by Oscar De La Hoya and trained by Freddy Roach. He turned pro on May 15th 2010 fighting on the same card as Amir Khan vs. Paulie Malignaggi. On February 2, 2011, Kavanagh was named Irish Boxing’s Prospect of the Year at the National Boxing Awards, beating off competition from Belfast flyweight Jamie Conlan.
Q & A with Jamie Kavanagh.
#1. What made you want to be a professional Boxer?
A. There was nothing that made me, I just knew it was what I wanted. I needed to make that next step. I wish I could have gone to the Olympics, but, I did not want to wait, I wanted to put things into my own hands. That’s when I decided to come to America. America has the biggest stages for boxers. If I’m going to make in the boxing world, then I have to shoot high, and if I fail, then at least I tried.
#2. How is it training in the Wild Card gym when all the media and fans around during a Pacuaio or Khan fight?
A. At first it was something new to me, but when you do it for a long period of time, you kinda forget about those things. I still get excited, but I have to concentrate on what I’m doing and not whats happening with other fighters. Its great for us young fighters to see all this happening because it makes us want to work harder. Plus we will be ready for them when our turn comes.
#3 With the HBO 24/7 show, does it affect your training?
A. No, Not all the time. The times change in the gym for training, I am managed by Freddie Roach, so sometimes it works out great and others not so much. I f they tell me not to be there, I won’t be there. But training is training no matter who has a camera in my face. Freddi has a new show coming to HBO, so there is always camera’s around. I do not let that kind of stuff go to my head, it doesn’t help anyone.
#4, Having already fought on TV. do you feel that will help you when you start to fight on ESPN, Showtime and HBO?
A. Yeah it helps, but if I look good during training and not during the fight, in front of camera’s, then it doesn’t work out. Little by little we’re getting where we should be. I have fought on HBO’s events, on the under card, but not televised. The people who matter in the world of Boxing see my fights, so one day when my time comes they will know the name Jamie Kavanagh.
#5 Any plans on a trip to Ireland for an Irish title fight?
A. That’s funny, everyone asks me that question. Yes I would love to go there and fight,but my team and I do not makes plans because I’m fighting here in America where the biggest networks and shows are. I’d love to go home for the fans and family, but when the time is right. I need to finish what I started here, then go back maybe once or twice, because there is no place like home. Boxing or not I miss Ireland a lot, Boxing in Ireland is not the best thing for me right now.
