Debutant Richie O’Leary has ‘unfinished business’
Richie O’Leary has unfinished business when it comes to boxing and won’t be shy about getting the job done when he debuts this weekend.
The Dubliner officially joins the paid ranks when he trades leather with Teodor Nikolov on the Stars of the Future card at the Warehouse tomorrow night.
He ditches the vest full of excitement and with a desire to make up for some lost time. The Mullhudart native with an amazing back story, was a quality underage amateur, winning Irish titles and dominating his weight at Dublin level. He felt he could have an impact in the senior ranks but fell away from the sport in his late teens. Indeed, apart from entering the intermediates last year, he never really explored a senior amateur career.
As a result, the JB Promotions fighter feels he goes into the pros with a point to prove and time to make up for.
“I definitely have unfinished business,” he tells Irish-boxing.com.
“I’m happy to be in this position and to be making my debut. Hopefully, I get things up and running and I can reach new heights. I had a decent underage amateur career but at 17-18 I kinda fell away from it, so I’m trying to rescue things a little bit now.”
There is real sense of excitement when O’Leary talks about fighting and if his style is as he describes, it looks like fans should be getting excited too.
“I’m generally full on, a come forward aggressive fighter, but I can box different ways. I can box off the back foot if I have to. I’m learning that amateur to pro transition and I like how I’m hitting but in general it’s toe to toe no holding back,” he adds.
The Intermediate semi-finalist knows there will be an element of finding his pro feet over the next 12 months, although that doesn’t stop him from targeting an early title win.
“I’m looking to go as far as a I can with it. I don’t want to pipe my horn too much but I’m definitely looking at a Celtc title by the end of the year or early next year.
“I definitely want to get a few fights under my belt, learn the ropes a bit but by the end of this year I want to start pushing on, maybe go for a Celtic title and we’ll take it from there. That’s where my mindset is at the minute.”
