HAVING achieved all he could in kickboxing, David Ryan has now secured a pro boxing licence and will make his debut within a few months.
The 27-year-old, who works as a butcher at Morrissey’s in the Town Centre, comes to the sport having enjoyed huge success as a kickboxer.
“Basically there was nothing else I could win in kickboxing. I’ve won everything, Irish, European, pro world titles, so I thought I’d move on and give it a go.”
Ryan got involved in combat sport with Howie Vincent at the Shannon Kickboxing Club, while still a child in national school.
While he won numerous titles there, his last kickboxing fight was before the pandemic and he plans to have his first outing in the boxing ring in September.
He already trains all the time, but the intensity will be increasing now.
“I’ll be training six days a week, I’ll get 11 sessions in a week. Sunday is a total rest day if I want, now I can have a recovery training day and it’s similiar.
“I’ll be boxing five days a week, then I’ve got my strength and conditioning work and my cardio, based around whatever days I am boxing.” David says his employers are quite flexible, while he will be trained by Sean Kelly at Treaty Boxing Club in Limerick.
“I’ve done a small bit of work with Sean in the past, sparring with a few of his lads. If I can’t get in to him, he comes out to me, or if he can’t get out I go in. He has a few pros under him too so it’s good for me to go there. He has the likes of Paddy Donovan there too, it’ll benefit me 100%.”
He says his all time favourite fighter is the great Roy Jones junior, while he says he will be the type of fighter who waits for openings and figures out opponents’ weaknesses.
“I’ll be a patient fighter, plenty of patience. I kind of work off the other person’s mistakes, I’ll fight the same as I did in kickboxing, take my time.”
Like many young fighters he is very hopeful about what the future may hold and he is also hopeful that there could be some success quite soon.
“I’m going to go as far as I can. Hopefully in two, three or four fights time I’ll be fighting for an Irish title. I’m going to give this everything, I’m not going into it just to make money.”
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.