BoxRec

whatever happened to the "shamrock express" shea neary he was such an excited fighter he came a cropper against mickey ward but no disgrace in that and then got well and truly stiffed against an ultra negative eamonn magee :x and he dissappears off the face of the earth

the fight which should have happened was hatton vs neary but that sour puss eamonn magee cheated it out of us its a crying shame that fight never happened it would have been a classic

After the Ward classic, he struggled to outpoint Alan Bosworth in a 10-rounder and then lost to Eamonn Magee (narrowly, but Eamonn hurt him in the first and the last rounds). I suppose the signs of deterioration were enough for him to knock the sport on the head.
Shame. He was a quality performer.

bennie wrote:After the Ward classic, he struggled to outpoint Alan Bosworth in a 10-rounder and then lost to Eamonn Magee (narrowly, but Eamonn hurt him in the first and the last rounds). I suppose the signs of deterioration were enough for him to knock the sport on the head.
Shame. He was a quality performer.

did he ever announce his retirement or did he just do a naz and not announce nothing

i reckon that was a bit of a robbery when he didn't get it against magee, thats right i remember it was roy "ave a good won" francis reffing and he bungled it up big time, there was a big ruckus in the boxing news for weeks and months afterwards, magee was a lazy so and so that night :x neary was robbed there.

that Micky Ward fight was class. ITV used to show him didn't they?

I spent the weekend in Amsterdam and in one of the many Bulldog bars they had a kind of mini-shrine to Neary, three or four signed pics and a poster from the Scheepers fight. Just thought I'd share that...

Thank you for that revealing insight into your weekend lifestyle, Ulysses . Shea's last two fights: the win over Bosworth and the close loss to Magee (I thought he won), tell us that Shea still had plenty left in hindsight.

I remember him saying last year he wanted to jump straight in with Hatton, without any tune ups. But then i heard nothing more.

Neary was a very exciting fighter but I thought his match with Ward showcased some of the limitations of the British style compared to Americans - Neary was so upright and lacked upper body movement and so was forced to soak up so many hooks. Such a naturally hard man though.

Despite him being exciting I never took to Neary or his team. They were one of the founding members of the WBU freakshow. Neary's "success" was an example to other promoters that if they could secure a "world" title for one of their limited ticket sellers it was a license to print money.

Similar to Tony Oakey in Portsmouth (although Neary was a better fighter), Neary brainwashed the ignorant Liverpudlian public into thinking he was some kind of superstar as he tore through hand picked challengers until Mickey Ward exposed him.

His WBU title defence against Andy Holligan sticks in my memory. But so too does the fact that Neary never contested a British title. His camp set a precedent and sadly all too many have subsequently followed.

bennie wrote:After the Ward classic, he struggled to outpoint Alan Bosworth in a 10-rounder and then lost to Eamonn Magee (narrowly, but Eamonn hurt him in the first and the last rounds). I suppose the signs of deterioration were enough for him to knock the sport on the head.
Shame. He was a quality performer.

He always looked like a guy who really had to kill himself to make weight - every time - he always looked skeletal at weigh-ins - he also had the kind of fights that made that weight loss really tell. I can think of a few times (in wins and defeats) where his heart seemed stronger than his stamina.

I bet you if you were looking up the weight divisions without much hope, and faced with more of that kind sacrifice and graft - retirement seems more appealing.

Neary was huge for the weight and reputedly a fierce trainer. A kind of 10st version of Scott Harrison.

As pointed out his upright style was to hold him back but he was an exciting, proud warrior. Shame he retired with still some good fights out there for him...

a friend of mine, retired pro Karim Bouali, sparred some of the best light welters in Europe, George Scott, Allan Vester, Ricky Hatton, Thomas Daamgard etc etc and he said sparring wise Neary was the hardest of them all.... tough as the come and incredibly strong

I remember the Hatton thing too Adam.

how old would Neary be now? Mid 30s?

TerribleTerry wrote:Neary was huge for the weight and reputedly a fierce trainer. A kind of 10st version of Scott Harrison.

As pointed out his upright style was to hold him back but he was an exciting, proud warrior. Shame he retired with still some good fights out there for him...

It's true - the Jr Welters could fight every weekend all year and still not work through all the potential combinations -it's dizzying.

The Shamrock Express on ITV was one of the highlights of my Saturday nights back in the days, his cracking little battle with Andy Holligan which was nip and tuck until Holligan suddenly caved in and also a good fight where he beat a capable South African who's name escapes me.