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Returning Declan Trainor – “I don’t want to live in regret”

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A sort-of new player will enter the Irish cruiserweight scene in September.

Warrenpoint fighter Declan Trainor [2(2)-1(1)] is to return to professional boxing after almost four years away.

Now 26, Trainor has not fought since his epic loss to Stephen Reynolds, the 2013 Irish Fight of the Year. The big puncher has focused on his successful gym since then, but will now make a return under Boxing Ireland Promotions.

While it’s by no means a ‘last chance saloon’ scenario, Trainor doesn’t want his undoubted talent to go to waste.

He told Irish-Boxing.com that “at this stage, I don’t want to live in regret.”

“If I don’t do it now, I’ll never do it.”

“I don’t think I wasted those four years. I was still training hard, I wasn’t sitting on the couch drinking beer, I’ve been looking after myself. It was time off, but I’ll be able to get back into it very quickly.”

Trainor will box on the Celtic Clash 3 card at the National Stadium on September night, and believe that “it will be like a debut again, it really will be.”

“I haven’t been in the ring for four years. It’s a long, long time. I’m a wee bit rusty, but I’ve plenty of time to brush that off.”

“The last two fights I had, I only had five weeks training, and now I’ve got ten. I’ll have my head down and be focused, more focused than I was before.”

Trainor made headlines last Summer when he stated his intentions to return to the amateur game. The Ulsterman reveals that this move was approved and he was to embark on a campaign to reach the 2018 Commonwealth Games, but he eventually decided against the vested route for a number of reasons.

“I got it approved, but I didn’t actually enter into the Ulster Seniors. I was actually going to enter the Irish Seniors, but then what happened was that my grandad sadly passed away right before it, so there was a lot of things with family, and family comes first.”

“The way it looks though, they mightn’t pick you in the long run, it’s almost about being the lucky one out of the hat. One of my mates, Jason Barron, he won the [Ulster] super heavyweights two years in a row and he never got away. I don’t want to take that chance.

The Down man is upbeat about his prospects, and is not re-entering the game half-heartedly. Trainor outlined how “I’m going to do things one step at a time, just get my technique and fitness up a wee bit more than it is now at the minute. I’m fit, but there’s normal fitness and there’s boxing fitness!”

“I want to get stuck back in as soon as possible, and there’s plenty of opportunities there for me at cruiserweight.”

“There’s plenty of talented guys, but they’re not very fit. The door’s wide open for me.”

“The goal for me is go for Irish, then hopefully go on to the UK, Europe, and on from there. We’re not in this sport if you don’t think you can win a world title, there’s no point otherwise. I’ve big belief that I can do it.”

“Any fight, if I have enough time for it, I can do anything, I believe I can do anything. That’s how I live my life.”

Photo Credit: Sharon Flanagan

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Joe O'Neill

Reporting on Irish boxing the past five years. Work has appeared on irish-boxing.com, Boxing News, the42.ie, and local and national media. Provide live ringside updates, occasional interviews, and special features on the future of Irish boxing. email: joneill6@tcd.ie

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