“It Had a Big Effect” – Padraig McCrory Reveals John Cooney Tradegy Played on his Mind Ahead Richards Defeat
Padraig McCrory has revealed the passing of John Cooney played heavily on his mind ahead of his most recent fight.
In fact, ‘The Hammer’ believes it was one of the reasons behind his below-par performance against Craig Richards.
The Belfast favourite admits he wasn’t himself in the ring when he last fought, and although he feels there were several reasons that was the case, McCrory revealed the Cooney tragedy played a big part.
Cooney tragically passed away a week after being injured during an Ulster Hall bout on February 1. His loss was mourned by all in the boxing community and beyond, and was something that affected the former IBO light heavyweight title holder going into his SSE Arena-hosted clash a month later.
“I think there are multiple reasons,” McCrory said when reflecting on the Richards’ performance and defeat. “In the lead-up to the fight, I took myself to England for about 10 days to try and find a spark that I felt was missing in the camp.
“The tragic incident that happened in the Ulster Hall with John was part of that. With my wife being pregnant and having a young family – that kind of had a big effect on my approach to the fight,” he added in typical honest fashion.
“I lay in bed night and put myself in a position thinking, ‘If that’s me, I potentially never meet my baby, who’s now here, or not get to watch my family grow. I put myself in that scenario. You probably really shouldn’t, as an active fighter.”
McCrory did consider retirement post the March reverse but will fight on. The 36-year-old hopes to duck through the ropes again this year – and will do so in a much better frame of mind.
“If you’d seen me fight in plenty of fights and compared to that fight, you’ll have seen that it just wasn’t quite me,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s a subconscious reason to that – but I do feel like in the fight, I got rid of a lot of demons, taking shots right in front of a crowd.”
McCrory also revealed there were moments he considered pulling out – but chose to stay silent.
“There were a few occasions on the lead-up to the fight where I thought about potentially pulling out. But again, I don’t tell and I don’t speak about these things enough to let a lot of people know.”
