INTRODUCING – Danny Duffy
All-rounder Danny Duffy needed to round off his amateur career with a National Elite Championship win before turning over.
Duffy punches for pay for the first time on the War in Waterford card on Saturday and makes a pro move he always fancied.
However, the 23-year-old only gave himself permission to drop the vest after he picked up an Irish title.
The latest boxer off the Raphoe Boxing Club production line won the Irish bantamweight title last month and instantly eyed up a pro move.
The next item on the bucket list wasn’t international amateur success it was the bright lights of professional boxing.
“Turning pro was something I always wanted to do,” he tells Irish-boxing.com.
“I never really pictured myself going to the Olympics and I saw Jason [Quigley] was building a stable of fighters out of Donegal and I wanted to get involved
“I always wanted that Irish title as I’ve been beat in a couple of close finals before and getting it over the line was something I felt needed to be done before I moved onto the pro ranks.”
The debut dream has been made all the sweeter by the fact his first pro fight plays out on a high profile ProBox card that includes some eagerly anticipated fights.
“As I said turning pro was always something I dreamed off ever since I started boxing. It was always professional boxing I wanted to do and for it to be on such a stacked card I’m buzzing for it.”
The bantamweight hopeful begins against the experienced Jake Pollard and is expecting a tough fight.
“My opponent is a very experienced lad he seems very tough so I’m expecting a hard fight.” he adds before pointing out he is a jack of all trades kind of fighter and can adapt his style to whats needed.
“I feel I can do a bit of everything but I’ll just have to wait and see on the night what the opponent brings.”
Duffy, who will work under the guidance of former world title challenger Jason Quigley, joins an active bantamweight division that includes Irish champion Ruadhan Farrell, Conor Kerr, and Gerard Hughes.
However, he isn’t looking too far along the road just yet.
“I’m not looking too far ahead of myself, hopefully, get off to a good start on Saturday and see how we get moving into next year. I’m still very young but I’ll take whatever challenges come my way!”
Photo credit Matthew Spalding.
