THURSDAY afternoon in Shannon.
The boxing club is upstairs, they say in SKB Gerdy’s Community Gym, go around the back and go up.
An unpromising looking door does open, and David Ryan is there waiting. Work on developing the room hasn’t finished, quite clearly, but the ring is up and it’s within its confines that Ryan will do much of his preparations for the first title fight as a professional boxer, when he takes on Tony McGlynn for the BUI Celtic Super Lightweight belt on May 10.
While he sees the belt as a stepping stone to greater things, winning it would be a milestone for a fighter who went straight from kickboxing into professional boxing in 2022.
The preparation involved in prizefighting is as intense if not more so than for any sport on earth, and Ryan has to do it while working full time; he is a familiar figure to many in Shannon from his job at Denver Morrissey’s butchers in the Town Centre.
As well as working and training, the tragic passing of Gerard McGettgan, another well known figure in Shannon, has meant he is now almost single handedly running Shannon Boxing Club. He has also been involved in the provision of local mental health classes for men.
All the hours of his day are accounted for, but he says he has lived this way since he found kickboxing as a boy.
“Training would come first, I’d be up before school, I’d train after school. I was training as a professional as a kid. I felt if you want to do it, do it properly,” he said.
The work done by Howie Vincent at Shannon Kickboxing Club has benefited many youngsters in the town, and David was hooked once he arrived there.
“I think it was in sixth class I said I’d give it a go. I actually went with all my friends at the time, but I was the only one to stay on over the years.”
He embraced it completely, and while there were sacrifices involved, he says they have stood to him.
“I enjoyed it that bit more, it kept me out of trouble, you weren’t out drinking, getting in trouble, if there was a fight coming up there was nothing else getting in the way,” he said.
“Some of the things I missed; I missed weddings, I missed my grad for it. I gave it all up for it, and it got me where I am.”
Ryan was very successful in kickboxing, winning many titles, and eventually he wanted a new challenge.
“There wasn’t much more for me to do, just stay around and try again, so I said I’d go boxing,” he said.
“I am making a name for myself, I probably have made more of a name for myself in the boxing than I did in the kickboxing. Now, I’m very glad I did the kickboxing, I have 15 years of fighting experience.”
In November 2019 Ryan made his boxing debut, which was screened on TG4, and he ended up winning the Irish-boxing.com debut of the year award.
Four more victories have followed since then, and he has won every round he has fought.
However May’s opponent, the Dubliner Tony McGlynn will be more ambitious than any of the others Ryan has fought, while he boasts a 4-0 record.
Yet the Shannon fighter firmly believes his hand will be raised and he has an eye on the future.
“If I win this fight, and I’m very confident of winning this fight, it sets me up for bigger and better things. It gives a European ranking and a higher ranking in Ireland,” he said.
While there are spells of very intense preparation in the lead up to each fight, boxers can’t let fitness dip much at any stage, and training is constant.
“If I had no fight coming up I’d still train every day, but I wouldn’t be going for a ten mile run, I could go for a four or five mile run,” he said.
“I’d get two gym sessions a week, two boxing sessions. I could run every day, but they’d be different runs.”
He very rarely drinks alcohol, while his diet also has to be quite strict.
“It’d be chicken, steak, turkey burgers, fish, all that kind of stuff. All simple things. No chocolate bars,” he says.
The type of dedication required does take a toll on other areas of life, and he says he is lucky with the support he has.
“Most pro boxers don’t work when they’re doing it, but a handful still have to,” he said.
“Now eventually I hope I don’t have to, but now I’m working at the butchers and running this place.
“It’s good, if I’m not at work I’m here, it’s all work and boxing. I’m lucky my partner understands all this, otherwise I’d be killed.
“She’s in fitness, she used to kickbox with me and she understands it all. I’m blessed that way.
“My boss is very understanding too. I’m blessed to be where I am work, because he understands it. He’s big into hurling and understands the commitments. I’m lucky.”
The only real backlash at home is when he wants to watch big fights at the weekends. “On Saturday night the Mrs kills me, ‘not this boxing thing, you’re gone seven days a week for it!'” he laughs.
Gerard McGettigan ran the gym which is on the Link Road in Smithstown, and David spent lots of his free time there from the get-go. “When Ger got the lease of the building I was just back from Australia and I was only working part time, so I was here 90% of the time that people weren’t here. I was painting, I swept out the car park and dug all the weeds out of it. The kickboxing club used to be here, so I was around all the time,” he said.
The two got the Shannon Boxing Club up and running.
“After Covid I was going boxing and I needed somewhere to train. He said ‘look, we’ll open the club and teach boxing’. We got it going anyway, I helped to teach classes and I had somewhere to train,” he said.
Gerard’s passing last year was one of a number of tragic deaths of young men in a short space of time that devastated the town.
David was just three weeks out from a fight, and although devastated by the loss of his friend, he didn’t pull out.
“I knew he would have wanted me to fight and I did,” he said.
He praises his friend’s generosity and says he is a huge loss to Shannon.
“He helped a lot of people. Even the gym here, when the Ukrainians came to Shannon he let people train for free. We still have a couple who come,” he said.
David had to decide whether he would keep the boxing club going, a lot of responsibility for a twenty-something with a packed schedule already.
“I was very young to be running a boxing club, but it wasn’t something I wanted to walk away from,” he said.
“Now I could have, and could have just focused on my own training, but we had so many kids coming in. It was great to see them, and to keep them off the roads.”
As well as keeping the club running, he also helped organised exercise classes with a focus on mental health.
“It’s great for the town, because there isn’t much of this kind of thing,” he said.
“I know most men don’t want to talk, even most women don’t want to talk, it’s a hard thing to do.
“The first time we did it, it didn’t take off as well as we thought it would, the second time it took off a lot better, and we’re hoping it’ll get bigger and bigger.”
He lost his own father in similarly tragic circumstances when he was younger, and he felt training was very important for his own wellbeing.
“Sport was the best thing for me, and the same for my brothers. It was sport, sport, sport. It’d keep you busy and out of trouble,” he said.
He also wants adults to know that getting up and moving will benefit their head as well as their body.
“If you’re at home feeling shitty and you go for a run, leave your headphones at home, there’s a good chance your problems will be solved,” he said.
Over the last year he has grown to enjoy coaching kids, something he didn’t want to do when the club began.
“When I first started, I didn’t want to do the kids’ class, I really didn’t. I did the adults and kids together for a week or two, and then I said no, we’ll keep the kids separate,” he said.
“Ger was doing the kids’ classes, and when he passed away I said the kids wouldn’t be on for a while. I fixed it with work to be off on certain days so I can do it, and now I enjoy them more than the adults classes.
“On Tuesday I had an under eight class, there are four girls in it. It has been great to watch those kids develop over the last few weeks, it’s crazy. But before I wouldn’t have enjoyed that.”
Training can offer an important avenue for young people, and he’s glad to help them.
“When kids come here some of them are probably going through things nobody even knows about,” he said.
“They come in, train, go home happy and the gym is always open for them. I’m here most evenings and I don’t care who comes up and trains when I’m here as long as they’re behaving themselves and not causing trouble.”
He watches fights all the time and he says his current favourite active boxers are Vasiliy Lomachenko, Terence Crawford and Erroll Spence, three of the most technically sound fighters in the game.
When he started boxing, Ryan felt he would fight off the back foot, but so far he has been the one coming forward in his bouts to date.
He feels he is still developing and there is lots to learn. “Every time you go and watch a fight you pick up things, and your style constantly changes. Football changes every week, hurling too, styles change, and boxing is the same. You’re never finished learning.
“You could go in one day and you’re going forward sparring, the next day you’re going backwards boxing.
“Before I started boxing, I actually thought I was better at counter-punching and going on the back foot, and I love doing that in sparring, but it just never happens in a fight, I’m like ‘I’m not getting you come forward’.
“I’d like to have a moment where I can show that side, but it hasn’t happened yet.”
He spars with some of the country’s best fighters, including potential future world beaters like Gary Cully and Paddy Donovan, and he feels he has made a lot of improvements since going with boxing.
Yet, he feels there is more in him. “I haven’t lost a round in any of the fights yet, but we are constantly evolving. I’m never going to be a finished article,” he said.
He sees the McGlynn fight as a precursor to bigger things, but he’d love to be bringing a belt back home to the club he is building.
“If you come in to teach the kids and they see you’ve a new belt, they’ll all be delighted with that,” he said.
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked with a number of other publications in Limerick, Cork and Galway. His first book will be published in December 2024.