why are irish heavies so poor?

[margaret thatcher]

fa isnt top 30 right now, i mean dude just got ktfo in 1 by lucas browne and has never beaten anyone half decent

although probably still ranks above any irish hw at the moment still

[KiwiRider]

fa isnt top 30 right now, i mean dude just got ktfo in 1 by lucas browne and has never beaten anyone half decent

although probably still ranks above any irish hw at the moment still

I think he was around #30 on Boxrec before the Parker loss. I was baffled at how he could be

[golden_labrador]

Ireland has a tiny population. less big guys and less need perhaps to become a boxer. big guys can play rugby or just be big.

Double the population of NZ and we have two top 30 HW's.
You might have seen our #2 get Tazered in the ring last night?

true, but i have seen Once Were Warriors

plenty of big boys from the islands trying to escape some pretty bad situations growing up too. boxing is is a way out sometimes.

but yeah, you've got Parker. Fa no longer counts

[funso banjo baby]

Rogan was tough at domestic level also Colin Kenna was pretty effective at small hall level given his height and weight disadvantages.

As stated above the diminishing returns from the Americans have been pretty grim, from Cooney to McNeely to McBride.

[Offthehook]

Most Irish who are in the 6ft-6ft6 range are under 160 lol…they’d have to be 7ft plus to be a heavy!

[JamesPhilips]

Ireland has a tiny population. less big guys and less need perhaps to become a boxer. big guys can play rugby or just be big.

Double the population of NZ and we have two top 30 HW's.
You might have seen our #2 get Tazered in the ring last night?

Bro the populations of both countries are identical. Both slightly under 5 mill and NZ go all those big Pacific islanders lol….

A more interesting is why Scotland at over 5 mill has produce zero heavyweights of note

[KiwiRider]

Ireland has a tiny population. less big guys and less need perhaps to become a boxer. big guys can play rugby or just be big.

Double the population of NZ and we have two top 30 HW's.
You might have seen our #2 get Tazered in the ring last night?

Bro the populations of both countries are identical. Both slightly under 5 mill and NZ go all those big Pacific islanders lol….

A more interesting is why Scotland at over 5 mill has produce zero heavyweights of note

Oh, I was only going by a quick search before I posted.
Should have backed up figures with secondary sources. The Internet is broken these days. So much codswallop, much of which is coming from me apparently

[Ruthless-RKO]

Scotland is significantly bigger and how many heavy champs have they had?

But in a few years they may have TWO.

That was actually a decent scrap .

[JamesPhilips]

Double the population of NZ and we have two top 30 HW's.
You might have seen our #2 get Tazered in the ring last night?

Bro the populations of both countries are identical. Both slightly under 5 mill and NZ go all those big Pacific islanders lol….

A more interesting is why Scotland at over 5 mill has produce zero heavyweights of note

Oh, I was only going by a quick search before I posted.
Should have backed up figures with secondary sources. The Internet is broken : these days. So much codswallop, much of which is coming from me apparently

True bro. Hope you’re all good in NZ

[KiwiRider]

Bro the populations of both countries are identical. Both slightly under 5 mill and NZ go all those big Pacific islanders lol….

A more interesting is why Scotland at over 5 mill has produce zero heavyweights of note

Oh, I was only going by a quick search before I posted.
Should have backed up figures with secondary sources. The Internet is broken : these days. So much codswallop, much of which is coming from me apparently

True bro. Hope you’re all good in NZ

Meh, under the thumb of Adolf Ardern, otherwise OK thanks.

[rio]

What happened to Con Sheehan? He looked good and was trained by peter fury them just disappeared.
Only other Irish fighter I remember in recent memory was Sean Turner but he was awful. Seen him fight 3 and lose 3.

[peter barlow]

Tyson Fury did live and box in Ireland in his younger days in Smithborough BC in Co Monaghan and I believe Holy Family BC in Belfast. And possibly he is the most famous fighter to ever win an Irish Title. But yeah obviously he's more English than Irish.

[peter barlow]

Interesting thread MT. I read an article there suggesting Thomas Carty may soon fight Gary Sweeney for the vacant Irish Heavyweight Title. Carty looked impressive enough in a KO victory he had on that DAZN undercard a while ago, he may be promising prospect. Both guys are 3-0 and 4-0 respectively

Looking at boxrec there is only 3 active guys at Irish Heavyweight. There's possibly some Northern Irish guys that don't show up under that but none come to mind.

[peter barlow]

What happened to Con Sheehan? He looked good and was trained by peter fury them just disappeared.
Only other Irish fighter I remember in recent memory was Sean Turner but he was awful. Seen him fight 3 and lose 3.

Speaking of Peter Fury he has another Irish Heavyweight on his books recently a Thomas McDonagh. This all I can find on him.

Peter Fury has backed unknown Irish heavyweight Thomas McDonagh to make a big impact on the pro scene.



McDonagh is a fighter even the most hardcore fight fan will struggle to relay information on – but the fact Fury has decided to manage and coach him will make people sit up and take note.

The coach who trained Tyson Fury to heavyweight glory is confident once the 23-year-old big man starts trading leather, he will begin to make a name for himself.

“He’s a good addition for Irish boxing. because he’s a heavyweight and he’s gonna start flying through them, Fury told BBTV.



The 6’6 heavy has been in Fury’s gym for over a year, sparring pros and fine-tuning his craft. The respected coach believes he is ready to turn over but revealed they’ve had issues getting him a license.

Once he gets BUI approval, Fury says he will look to link the ‘fighting man’ up with Boxxer and Sky Sports.

The fact McDonagh has no amateur background is the reason the Galway fighter is a relative unknown – and quite possibly why the BUI want to see a test spar before granting a license.

McDonagh comes from a white-collar and bare-knuckle background but having sparred with the likes of Jordan Thompson, Dave Allen, Kash Ali and world title challenger Hughie Fury is adamant he is pro-ready.

https://www.irish-boxing.com/peter-fury ... ough-them/

[high tower 1]

Tyson Fury did live and box in Ireland in his younger days in Smithborough BC in Co Monaghan and I believe Holy Family BC in Belfast. And possibly he is the most famous fighter to ever win an Irish Title. But yeah obviously he's more English than Irish.

Fury is Saudi when it suits him too.

[peter barlow]

ireland has a rich boxing history and usually has good fighters about, but looking over their heavy talent now and all time, what's with the massive lack there? even in the ams, where they have guys medalling at big international events, the heavies are usually among the worst on the team

and i dont mean tyson fury "irish", i mean actually brought up and boxing there. otherwise deontay wilder might as well count as a nigerian

even including NI it's the same thing. obviously population size is a factor, but just seems to be disporportionately poor at hw considering the guys they have at other weights

Anecdotally I would say most big guys that size I know tend to play Gaelic Football or Rugby Union. Unless they are from the Traveller community who are usually strictly boxing.

Also I'd say you'd have a hard time as an Irish heavyweight getting sparring here.

[gp.]

There was a lot of native-born Irish or first generation Irish-American's who were pretty successful heavyweights. Tom Sharkey, Mike McCoole, Peter Maher, Jim Corbett, John Morrisey, John L. Sullivan, etc.

However, it seems as if the Irish only produced good or great heavyweights if they fought elsewhere--- rather than remain in their homeland. Why that is I'm not so sure but I think the "fighting Irish" stereotype is more of an American creation than it is the reality of natural born Irish people.

Most Irish people I know are just hard-working people who seem to be more interested in soccer or rugby than anything else. Boxing is kind of a secondary thing rather than a primary thing over there. At least in my opinion.

After all who knew that handball is considered the national sport of Ireland? Lol

Nobody; it isn't. I suspect you have seen something where Gaelic handball is bundled in with the other GAA sports, like hurling and Gaelic football, but it's a long way behind them in popularity.

It's not related to what is known as "handball" elsewhere; it's more like squash without racquets.

[Geesalabc]

I think we have a great champion at the moment in Tyson Fury.

[Dioufy]

I think we have a great champion at the moment in Tyson Fury.

Born Manchester.

[TheLeprechaun]

I think we have a great champion at the moment in Tyson Fury.

Do you enjoy when God Saved The Queen is sung before his fights?

[brilo33]

There was a lot of native-born Irish or first generation Irish-American's who were pretty successful heavyweights. Tom Sharkey, Mike McCoole, Peter Maher, Jim Corbett, John Morrisey, John L. Sullivan, etc.

However, it seems as if the Irish only produced good or great heavyweights if they fought elsewhere--- rather than remain in their homeland. Why that is I'm not so sure but I think the "fighting Irish" stereotype is more of an American creation than it is the reality of natural born Irish people.

Most Irish people I know are just hard-working people who seem to be more interested in soccer or rugby than anything else. Boxing is kind of a secondary thing rather than a primary thing over there. At least in my opinion.

After all who knew that handball is considered the national sport of Ireland? Lol

what about gerry cooney he was alright i thought , and the cinderella man james braddock Pride of the Irish

They weren't Irish born.

They were Americans of Irish descent.

This thread is about why there are no good or great heavyweights produced out of Ireland or living in Ireland. Or at least that's my understanding of the thread.

yea i know but they were left out of other american irish fighters of the past which i thought deserved a mentioned

[brilo33]

Rogan was good fun until Fury dismantled him left handed.

for the irish world title

[jamesmcdonnell]

Irish people generally aren';t that big. There are exceptions

I remember going to a boozer in Rural Ireland when I was about 20, and I felt like a giant and I was only 6 foot 3. Most of the men in the pub were at or below my shoulder height.

I think generations of terrible poverty probably did that. It affects epigenetics and in turn produces smaller children, I guess it's a natural adaptation if food is scarce.

My dad's grandad was 6'7" and he was from Ballymena, my dad's not a particuarly big man.

[brilo33]

What happened to Con Sheehan? He looked good and was trained by peter fury them just disappeared.
Only other Irish fighter I remember in recent memory was Sean Turner but he was awful. Seen him fight 3 and lose 3.

he was decent con aswell he was big and was athletic and could move maybe the power wasnt there, but still . yea big sexy was a bit rough

[brilo33]

Irish people generally aren';t that big. There are exceptions

I remember going to a boozer in Rural Ireland when I was about 20, and I felt like a giant and I was only 6 foot 3. Most of the men in the pub were at or below my shoulder height.

I think generations of terrible poverty probably did that. It affects epigenetics and in turn produces smaller children, I guess it's a natural adaptation if food is scarce.

My dad's grandad was 6'7" and he was from Ballymena, my dad's not a particuarly big man.

only 6 ft 3, thats big iam 6ft and in london iam mostly the tallest as long i aint with my brothers ,and i am called a dwarf by my family even me sisters 5 9 , i get you in some of the rural parts people are smaller. i also think it is boxing snobbery ,me dad always went on about watch his feet , at 9 years old ur thinks bo.....ks ko him out, but like i said the irish like a boxer and heavey weights arnt boxers there fighters