Rathfriland ABC's Donagh Keary turns professional with Madison Square Garden debut around the corner

Donagh Keary sitting comfortably at the top table at the January 14 media launch for his professional debut at Madison Square Garden next month.Donagh Keary sitting comfortably at the top table at the January 14 media launch for his professional debut at Madison Square Garden next month.
Donagh Keary sitting comfortably at the top table at the January 14 media launch for his professional debut at Madison Square Garden next month.
​The bright lights of New York City await former Rathfriland ABC boxer Donagh Keary and co-manager Bobby Lavery where a new journey begins this March at Madison Square Garden.

Castlewellan stand out amateur boxer Keary has ditched the amateur game and turned over to the paid ranks and will have his first professional fight on a 360 Promotions All-Irish card on March 16 in the world famous Madison Square Garden Arena New York.

Ready for the challenge

Keary who has been boxing from the age of six said: “It’s a dream come true for any boxer no matter what stage of their career but for one who has just turned pro to get to debut in Madison Square Garden is mindblowing, but I’m ready for the challenge and whatever opponent is put in front of me.”

Written in the stars

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Donagh’s amateur coach and now his co-manager Bobby Lavery stated: “I always knew Donagh would be a professional some day, since he first walked into the Rathfriland Gym but never did I think I would be going with him on the journey.

“I had to make an extremely hard decision to leave Rathfriland ABC and put my time into guiding Donagh in his professional career. I have a lot of contacts in the pro game since I used to part own Irish-boxing.com and I made a few calls and everyone was positive and have offered to help in any way they can.”

Losing becomes winning

Since deciding to turnover last November after losing the Irish Elite Final in an extremely close contest his pro training more or less started straight away.

“I reached out to two time world champion Ryan Burnett through Instagram who had just announced that he would be training pro boxers to see if he would be interested in taking Donagh on to coach him,” said Lavery.

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Burnett who is based in Antrim started Keary early December and both lads immediately gelled and are now working together three days a week. Ryan Lavery, an ex Ulster Senior Champion and now a strength and conditioning coach in his Belfast Re-Gen Studios has been tasked with the development of Donagh’s step up in his boxing career.

Talking then training begins

Talks for his debut fight started on New Year’s Day between Bobby and Tom Loffeler of 360 promotions California and by January 14, Lavery and Keary were sitting in Legends Bar New York at the Media launch for the March 16 fight card.

Training camp is going very well with sparring being arranged in Liverpool and London in February before they make the journey to Philadelphia early March for the last two weeks for some final sparring and weight cutting to Super Bantamweight for the March 15 weigh in.

Looking forward to pro career

Going forward Bobby will hope to have Keary out three to four times in 2025 and all being well on a winning streak setting things up nicely for a successful professional boxing career.

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