James Power Ready To Live American Dream After Pandemic Awakening
He has yet to celebrate his 21st birthday but James Power [6(4)-0] still feels the need to start making up for lost time.
The young prospect is finally ready to begin living the American dream after a rude pandemic awakening.
Once Ireland’s youngest fighter, the Cork prospect stole a pro head start when he turned over as young as 17 and had a number of fights under his belt before he left school.
Things then looked to move to the next level when he teamed up with Sheer Sports and was set for a big move to LA. However, the pandemic put the breaks on what was previously a fast-moving career, leaving Power frustrated in the process.
In fairness to the prospect with a ‘make it happen’ attitude, he managed to get out to Thailand to train in the meantime, kept himself busy back in Cork and just over a week ago got in a keep busy fight in Hungary.
He has since revealed American plans and is ready to relocate to LA, team back up with coach Courage Tshabalala and get busy.
“I’m going there to live. I’m moving to America to give this sport everything I have,” he told Irish-boxing.com.
“From the moment I land in LAX airport, I will get straight to work with Courage Tshabalala and we will pick up where we left off. Once we get the ball rolling out there, I don’t see any reason why it would stop.
“We have an appointment scheduled at the Embassy in Dublin before the end of the year. I hope nothing interferes with that and we finally catch the break we’ve been waiting on. Once we get our visa, I will fly out to America as soon as possible. I’m confident that my team and I will do everything we can to make up for lost time.”
The Dripsey native ended a nigh on two-year ring absence on the Continent earlier this month and said the ring absence was due to circumstances out of his control.
“The lay-off was solely caused by the pandemic,” he continued.
“I signed a contract with Sheer Sports almost two years ago now which allowed me to return to America on a permanent basis to continue pursuing a career in this sport. Unfortunately, during the two weeks that I was at home waiting on my visa to be issued, Covid-19 threw everything up in the air.
“Travel bans and restrictions were put in place immediately and my visa was paused. I haven’t seen American soil since. There was nothing my management or I could do to change any of that. The situation was completely out of our control.”
Power took advantage of Andy O’Neill’s contacts in Hungary to end the drought last Saturday week and was delighted to get back into the ring.
“It felt incredible to be back doing what I love most. The past few years have not been easy for us, so this bout felt special. It almost seems like a second debut,” he claims before revealing he coached himself of over a year.
“In the 22 months since our last fight, I’ve been primarily coaching myself. But we’ve spent that time learning and improving. I’ve grown a lot as a fighter since I last stepped through the ropes. I believe that showed in my recent performance. It felt great to be back, but I can’t wait to train with my coach and teammates in Los Angeles again!
“I would also like to say thank you to Liam-Og and Marlene Griffin for allowing me to train at their gym in the time leading up to this fight. I don’t feel like my performance on Saturday would have been possible without the rounds of sparring with their fighters and the pad-work with Liam. We did not have much time to prepare before this fight and I’m grateful for all their help.”
