Headline NewsNewsPro News

No pain no gain – Brett McGinty taking a lot from a tough debut

Brett McGinty [1(0)-0] jumped passed the theory exam, the mandatory lessons and straight into driving test and is delighted he emerged with a licence to thrill.

The Donegal light middle certainly wasn’t handed a routine introduction to the pro ranks, as he fought on Hennessy Promotions Channel 5 broadcast card on Friday late.

The Oakleaf graduate accepted a fight with dangerous Czech Jan Ardon [2(0)-6(0)] over six rounds and had to fight a buoyed late replacement at light heavyweight, four weights above what he plans to compete at..

With those caveats taken into account it wasn’t surprising the 22-year-old faced moments of adversity and had to battle on occasion.

Admittedly McGinty wasn’t expecting such a battle come paid bow time , but in hindsight after entertaining his way to victory in such a tough fight he is pleased.

“I think it will stand to me having that fight so early,” McGinty told Irish-boxing.com.

“A lot of people have said to me there used to seeing fighters have a test like that eight or 10 fights into their career and I had it on my debut, so thankfully it paid off and I hope it stands to me for the future.”

His coach, the legendary Ricky Hatton took a similar view and was impressed with how his young charge copped and performed.

“Ricky was really happy with my performance. He said ‘you showed your ability and a lot of courage in your debut, which is something a lot of fighters don’t have to do’.”

The fact McGinty gave away so much weight against a southpaw who knows his way around the ring on his debut did prompt the match making to be questioned.

However, he suggests both he and his team were aware of the dangers, but had very little option but to take the fight.

It was Ardon on wait until next year to throw pro punches, something McGinty wasn’t willing to do, plus having sparred the Czech he was always confident of victory.

“I probably wasn’t expecting as tough of a start if I’m honest, but it came to the stage where the options were becoming very few.

“My opponent pulled out on Tuesday night and we had to join the bubble on Wednesday, so when they offered me this fight I just knew I had to take it.

“It was over 21 months since my last fight which is a long time for a 22 year old, so I was at the stage where I just wanted to get into the ring to make my debut. I wasn’t concerned who was at the other side of the ring to challenge me,” he adds before reflecting on the challenge he faced and the fact the pair had recently sparred.

“It was a tough test against an opponent who came to win. He was obviously southpaw as well, which made it a tricky start for me, but I had sparred with him during my camp not realising he would be my opponent. He trains out of Manchester as well, so [having sparred] I was always confident of winning the fight.”

The fight didn’t just see McGinty bank valuable experience, he also won a host of new fans.

An entertaining six rounds live on terrestrial will always grab attention – and the fighter himself assures fans new and old can expect similar when he fights again.

“I think that people can expect entertaining fights with me throughout my career. It’s just my style, I’m a come forward aggressive fighter so my opponents won’t have to go looking for me and I think I will find myself in a lot of entertaining fights.”

A Hennessy Sport’s promoted Irish themed St Patrick’s Day card is something that has been discussed on the Irish-boxing.com podcast.

A card with the McKenna brothers, one of which, Stevie, is a Hennessy Promotions stablemate of McGinty, has been suggested – and it seems March is indeed the targeted date for return for the Donegal fighter at the least.

“Hennessy has two shows next year in March, so I’m going to be back out then. I will fight another five times next year hopefully with everything going to plan, so a very exciting 2021 to look forward too and I’m really happy to finish off a challenging year on a high.”

Jonny Stapleton

Irish-boxing.com contributor for 15 years and editor for the past decade. Have been covering boxing for over 16 years and writing about sports for a living for over 20 years. Former Assistant Sports editor for the Gazette News Paper Group and former Tallaght Voice Sports Editor. Have had work published in publications around the world when working as a freelance journalist. Also co-founder of Junior Sports Media and Leinster Rugby PRO of the Year winner. email: editoririshboxing@gmail.com

Comments are closed.

x