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‘The Donn’ – Donnelly ready to boss it after pushing for Ultimate Boxxer inclusion

 

Steven Donnelly [5(1)-0] claims he secured himself an Ultimate Boxxer slot in a bid to fast track his career.

The Donn’ revealed MTK queried whether or not he should take part in the Prizefighter style competition only for the fighter himself to push for inclusion.

The 30-year-old has been moving quickly since eventually turning over in August of last year.

However, he is keen to make another significant leap forward and see’s the BT Sports broadcast clash as the perfect opportunity to do so.

The competition hasn’t quite got the career changing history Prizefighter proved to have just yet, but Donnelly is confident the relatively new version of the format can help increase his profile, show his talents and thus secure him big fights.

As a result the Olympian made sure he was involved.

“I got myself into the competition,” he said when speaking to the BBC.

“I saw it advertised so I mailed them on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram begging them to get into this competition because I knew I suited this format.”

“They said I had to go through my management company who said it was a big risk, but I have to take that risk and I believe I can win it, I’m all in for it.”

If the Rio Olympian and Commonwealth Games medal winner does manage to secure victory in the three fight three round knockout tournament the 30-year-old is confident promoters will take note.

The Ballymena man believes the fifth edition of the BT Sports broadcast clash will bring him to the next level in terms of notoriety and potential fights and even pay days.

“I’m 30 years old now and have a good engine but time waits for no-one.

“I’ll be more financially secure and it would raise my profile, all the big promoters will be watching, it’s going to get me to where I need to be: Big fights with big purses.”

The Ultimate Boxxer plays out on Friday September 20 at the Indigo at the O2, live on BT Sport.

Kingsley ‘Obi’ Egbunike and Lenny Fuller will trade blows in quarter-final one, before Kaan Hawes faces Joshua Ejakpovi . The third quarter-final will see Lewis Syrett battle Sean Robinson, while Aaron Collins will enter the ring in the final quarter-final bout against Steven Donnelly.

The winner of quarter-final one will face the winner of quarter-final two, with the victors in three and four also squaring up in the last four.

 

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

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