‘Spike’s Younger Brother’ – Cathal Crowley wants to quench KO thirst in the pros

‘Another big punching Cork man in the gym’ quips Pascal Collins after taking Cathal Crowley on the pads last week.

It seems the Spartan BC graduate has a lot more in common with Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan than the fact he hails from the rebel county.

Crowley has a reputation as a puncher and comes to the pro game looking to unleash the kind of seek-and-destroy approach that made his fellow county man a fan favourite.

Speaking to Irish-boxing.com ahead of his debut on this weekend’s Rising of the Ashes National Stadium hosted fight night, Crowley revealed he comes to the pro ranks with bad intentions.

“I will be looking to walk people down and stop people. I will be going for the knockout anyways, that’s the main thing I want to do in the pro game,” he says in quite a clinical fashion.

“Obviously as the years go on and the rounds increase, I want to start fighting for titles,” he adds looking further down the pro road.

“At the moment I’m thinking debut a light heavyweight, but I think I could campaign at super middle. I just want to get the debut out of the way first but it’s a good scene at the moment domestically.”

The young prospect who boasts four Cork, five Munster and two All Ireland titles across the age groups and levels now boasts ‘Spike’ as a stablemate having teamed up with Collins at the Celtic Warrior Gym.

Indeed, it was O’Sullivan who made the introduction.

“I was doing strength and conditioning training with Spike in Cork over the last year, and we were chatting about turning pro. He said he’d talk to Pascal about getting me up here. Then the opportunity came to come up and I’m fitting in well.”

Crowley’s move into the pros was also opportunistic, he had National Senior plans, only, like many who had entered with Elite experience, to be informed on the weekend of the competition they couldn’t compete.

The Munster man was then eyeing up January’s Elites but brought forward pro plans when the chance to fight on the first show in Dublin since 2019 arose.

“I would have gone into the Elites if I stayed amateur. I wanted to go pro I was just waiting on the opportunity to turn over. I fought in America in September and the Celtic Box Cup in October, so I was sharp and when the opportunity came to box on this card I said why not.

“When I was fighting in America and the Celtic Box Cup, I was still training at the Celtic Warriors Gym twice a month to adapt to the pro-style. I was already making the changes,” he adds.

A first glimpse of Cathal Crowley who debuts at the National Stadium this weekend. A big punching aggressive Cork fighter. Sound familiar? pic.twitter.com/huYQP5xuc6

— Irish-Boxing.com (@Irishboxingcom) November 15, 2022

Speaking on how he feels ahead of his pro debut he said: “I’m excited and feeling fit and ready to go. I was sharp in the amateurs it’s about bringing that sharpness with the power punches and getting the knockouts.”

Crowley is the latest young pro to emerge from Cork, and points out there is enough from the Rebel county to now run shows.

“There are lot of prospects coming out of Cork at the minute, hopefully, we can have a show down there.”