RSS
The Score


The Score

by Declan O'Kelly

Posted on Wednesday, January 27, 2010 at 10:51 AM


Freddie Roach keen to see his Irish fighters Dean Byrne and Jamie Kavanagh fight soon


Bookmark and Share






While Freddie Roach was in New York to promote the fight between Manny Pacquiao and Joshua Clottey last Wednesday, I caught up with him to talk about the two Irish fighters he handles, light welterweight Dean Byrne (11-0, 4 KOs) and newly signed pro 19-year-old Jamie Kavanagh.

Both fighters, who hail from Dublin and learned their trade at Crumlin boxing club, are co-managed by Roach and Steve Feder.

Byrne was last in action on May 1 last year when he won a unanimous decision over tough Mexican Jose Reynoso (11-3-1), but he has had a quiet time of it recently.

However, Roach (pictured with Byrne above) is eager to get his man back in action soon.

“Dean’s papers just came through and he will be back in America next week,” said Roach at MSG. ‘’He will be back in the ring.”

Roach said Byrne was in good condition and he was keen to bring his fighter’s spell of relative inactivity (his only fight in 2009 was in Las Vegas in May) to an end.

“He’ s in shape. We are going to get him back in the ring pretty soon because he needs to get back in the ring,” said Roach.

Roach’s other Irish fighter is Jamie Kavanagh, a friend of Byrne, who helped bring the two together.

Kavanagh, who campaigns around light welterweight, visited the Wild Card gym in November and impressed Roach so much that they signed a contract together.

“He (Kavanagh) arrives, I believe tomorrow (last Thursday) he will be in town,” continued Roach.

“Golden Boy is interested him and Top Rank also. We are working with getting him a deal with one of those companies and getting him going.”

When asked if Kavanagh would be making his professional debut in the near future, Roach said the he was confident that it would be “very soon.”

In a late development, Matthew Macklin (26-2 18 KOs), who is slated to defend his European middleweight title against the dangerous and highly touted Russian Dmitry Pirog (14-0, 11 KOs) on April 16 in Birmingham, has announced that he will travel to Los Angeles to train with Roach for that fight. More on that anon.


1 Comment

It may take several minutes for your comment to appear.
Bring the Boys on. All the Irish in Boston will support them to the hilt.
 




Connect to IrishCentral with your Facebook account


or sign-in directly

Welcome to IrishCentral!
Please provide the following information in order to create your account

Username:
E-Mail Address:
Password:
Confirm Password:
I agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy


Welcome to IrishCentral!
All we need is the following information and you will be part of the #1 Irish community in the US

E-Mail Address:
First select a unique username:
Username:
Now choose a password:
Password:
Confirm Password:
I agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy
Thank you!

Just one more step and you will be part of the largest Irish community in America! Tell us a little more about you to start enjoying all the features of IrishCentral.

Additional Information:

First Name:
Last Name:
Date of Birth:
Zip:
Gender: Male  Female 
Country:

Degree of Irishness:
Household Income:
Level of Education:

Subscribe to our newsletters:

The Best of IrishCentral - Daily Newsletter
Special Offers from our sponsors

or
Skip

You can edit your information at any time, just go to "my account" when you're logged in.

Log into IrishCentral with your Facebook account


or sign-in directly

E-Mail:
Password:
 Remember me Forgot my password