Nightmare Build Up Couldn’t Stop Dream Night for Ambitious Senan Kelly
Senan Kelly had to battle illness before he battled Declan Geraghty at the National Stadium.
Kelly came out on top of an enthralling ten-round Irish welterweight title bout with the Dubliner last Saturday night, but only after he came through a bout of illness.
Speaking after the recording a successful defence and registering a career best win, the JB Promotions man revealed he had to contend with a stomach bug in the build up to the fight.
It made fight week a nightmare for the 29-year-old, although it did make, making weight easy.
“I didn’t tell anyone but I had a vomiting bug all week,” he told Irish-boxing.com.
“I was on antibiotics all week. What a week!
“It cleared up Thursday, the day of the press conference I came back around. The weigh was handy because of the week I had and I got in there and gave that performance.
“I got the win and I’m buzzing.”
One of Irish boxing’s form operators knew he had to make his defence against ‘Pretty Boy’ an ugly affair. The game plan was to set a high tempo, make it a dog fight, and it worked.
“I always knew he’d take the first three rounds but the whole idea was to make him work for them. Get him breathing as early as possible, work the body, rough him up and don’t let this be a boxing match,” he explains before revealing he likes it rough.
“I wanted it to be rough. Declan’s a boxer I was never going to box him. I got in there to fight and that’s what I did. I got the job done and got the victory.
The victory was another huge one for a boxer with a history of struggling for opportunities. In under a year, he’s won the BUI Celtic title, beat rising star Matthew Tyndall for the Irish title and defended it against a big name in Geraghty.
Many surmise the run of impressive wins could see him progress past domestic level, Kelly agrees to a degree.
The Leixlip native believes he answered when opportunity knocked, but he just doesn’t know what’s on the other side of the door.
“I got the win of my life there, so yeah, the only way is up.
“To be honest, I think this fight is going to open a few doors for me. I don’t know what doors yet, so the whole thing now is just sit down with my team and decide what’s next.
“I’m going to keep on climbing. I’m going to keep going further. This is only the beginning. It’s nice getting belts, but I want to get a a few quid in the bank to be able to look after myself and family.”
