‘Big Bang’ Moment: O’Leary’s Dublin Explosion Has Warren Dreaming Big
A Dublin boxing star was born in the 3 Arena on Saturday, according to a man who has seen more boxing stars than an astronomer has seen real ones.
The grandfather of British boxing, Frank Warren, believes Pierce O’Leary may have announced himself as Irish boxing’s newest attraction with his IBO light welterweight title win.
The Sheriff Street native celebrated his long-awaited homecoming in style, courtesy of a stoppage win over Maxi Hughes a stone’s throw from his home – and the Queensberry boss believes everything about the DAZN broadcast night threw ‘Big Bang’ into greater spotlight.
“Tonight, an Irish box office star was born. That’s what’s happened tonight,” said Warren, who has previously worked with Steve Collins and Carl Frampton and has the likes of Anthony Cacace, Steven Cairns, Eoghan Lavin, Adam Olanyian and Bobbi Flood on his books.
The win, and particularly the manner of it, impressed the veteran promoter. Granted, Hughes was a short-notice replacement, but he had been training and has proved Irish Kryptonite over the years, defeating Jono Carroll, Gary Cully, James Fryers and Paul Hyland Jr across a storied career.
However, it wasn’t just the stoppage win that excited Warren. The fight maker was impressed with the love in the famous venue for the European champion and believes the support is there to make the Inner City kid a Stadium fighter.
“The love of people, the fact that they come out, get behind their heroes, it’s fabulous,” he added.
“I’ve been doing this many, many years and there’s not many places I can think of with an atmosphere like that,” Warren said.
“It was unbelievable,” he added before mentioning Croke Park as a possible fight destination for the knockout lover.
“Every fighter I’ve worked with wants to fight in the big stadium in their hometowns. Fighters that you’d never thought it would happen for like Joe Calzaghe, Joh Warrington, Carl Frampton, even Frank Bruno at Wembley. It’s the same with Croke Park. If we get the right fight, I know we could be in business.”
Croke Park is a venue currently being mentioned as one to host Katie Taylor’s farewell fight, discussing the possibility of the Dublin Docklands’ graduate fighting on the same bill as the Irish boxing legend and his managerial stable mate, he said: “Maybe. We’re not against anything. The name of the game is to build professional boxing in Dublin. It’s there to be done. We showed it tonight. We made a decision, and the public got behind it. We didn’t mess around. We sold out weeks and weeks ago. So that’s where we’re at. The aim now is to make it bigger and better.”
Part of making it bigger will be getting big fights for 26-year-old O’Leary. With a European title already banked and another big win registered in front of a big crowd on Saturday, the Dub should find himself on the world title trail – and Warren says it’s his job to deliver.
“Huge fights now, big fights. He’s showing what he’s all about. My job is to make sure that we keep delivering.”
