AmateurHeadline News

Irish amateur great revealed as one of the Last Man Standing eight


A former amateur great will make his professional debut in the Last Man Standing contest in Dublin on March 3rd.

Four-time and two-weight Irish National Senior Elite Champion Roy Sheahan will be one of the eight boxers competing for €25,000 winners prize in the National Stadium this Spring.

Both Assassin and Red Corner Promotions refused to confirm Sheehan’s involvement, but Irish-Boxing.com have been reliably informed by parties with knowledge of the deal that the St Michael’s Athy man will be named as a participant in the straight-knockout Prizefighter-style tournament.

The promoters behind an event which looks set to bring terrestrial TV back to boxing would only go as far to confirm “an exciting line up” is all but finalised and will be confirmed next week.

However, we can reveal Sheahan was one of many fighters to go through the application process and has been chosen as one of the eight by the independent selection team of Mickey Helliet and Kenny Egan.

The 33 year old is certainly an exciting – and shocking – addition to the show and his involvement will generate massive interest.

After bursting on to the scene as a 17 year old way back in 2002, Sheahan would go on to win win three consecutive welterweight titles between 2006 and 2008, win EU gold in 2007, and would be unlucky to miss out on qualification for the Beijing Olympics.

After this he would continue fighting until 2013, but would return in 2015 at light heavyweight to win a fourth Irish title off the back of just three weeks training. Sheahan was set to return to the Senior Championships again last year at middleweight but was forced to pull out due to work commitments.

Sheahan will likely be the least experienced pro fighter battling it out for the substantial prize fund, but there is no doubting his pedigree and talent.

Routinely named one of the most naturally talented Irish amateurs of recent times, technically Sheahan will be hard bested – not to mention his recent amateur experience and success may mean he is suited more to the format than his seven to-be-announced rivals.

It remains to be seen whether or not Sheahan has pro ambitions beyond the March 3rd fight night, but victory in the National Stadium live on TV would see him become mandatory for the Irish middleweight title currently held by Luke Keeler – thus giving him every reason to fight on.

Officially confirmed for the undercard are Craig O’Brien, Victor Rabei, and Vladimir Belujsky as well as a light heavyweight Irish title fight between champion Paddy McDonagh and mandatory challenger David Bailey.

When contacted by Irish-Boxing.com regarding Sheahan’s involvement Red Corner’s Jonathan Graham said,

“We haven’t officially confirmed any of the eight fighters yet. We had a great response in terms of applicants and Irish fighters around the World were keen to partake.”

“All I can say is we have an exciting eight fighters that we are close to confirming. The full Last Man Standing line up will be revealed on January 10th and let’s just say Irish fight fans will be excited when all the names are out. The draw will be done closer to the competition and there will be more undercard news over the coming weeks.”

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