Donegal boxer laces up in Louisville, Kentucky, for his penultimate amateur fight

Clonmany boxer Conan Kearney is in the United State this week where he's preparing to lace up his gloves for his penultimate amateur fight.

Kearney is part of 12-strong mixed Irish team that has travelled to Kentucky through the Bridges Beyond Boxing programme, with Louisville the first stop on a the trip that also takes in Cincinnati.

Having already visited the Muhammad Ali Center, Kearney and his teammates will square off against local boxers in a ring set up in the outdoor plaza at the center on Saturday afternoon, before heading to Ohio for more bouts on Wednesday 8 September.

Conan has fought American opponents before, and his father and coach Robert says he will face another formidable test at the home of The Greatest.

“These are his last two amateur fights, and that’s what we want: real hard tests,” Robert told Donegallive. “You need your A-game,” Robert says. “When boxing in America, you have to do something very special to get over the line against their top boxers. But Conan has done it before and I’m sure he can do it again.”

They return to Ireland on 12 September and two days later, Kearney will fly to Thailand.

The next stage of that progression will take Kearney to Thailand, where he will work under former professional boxer and coach, Buncrana man John Hutchinson, at the Donegal Den in Phuket.

Kearney’s first professional fight is already lined up for 10 October.

He may have only turned 18, but Conan Kearney has already made a decision that would be a difficult one for many boxers to take.

After 65 amateur fights, 58 wins, 13 Ulster titles and a national title, he is departing the amateur scene to turn professional.

It is a decision that has been coming for some time.

Kearney has boxed with the St Bridget’s club in Clommany since he was five years old. His father Robert, the club’s head coach, has been there throughout.

“He’s never missed a beat, always stood out,” Robert says. “He’s always been very special. It wasn’t that he was a natural. He just kept going and made himself good. Relentless.”

The path he wanted to follow became clearer earlier this year when he boxed on Jason Quigley’s Fight Night in the Valley show in Stranorlar. It was a mixed professional and amateur card and, for Kearney, provided a first real taste of the professional environment when he took on Raphoe’s Carra McHugh.

“He’s had his mind set on turning pro ever since,” says Robert.

There was a choice to make. Kearney had been accepted for a college place having secured more than 400 points in his Leaving Certificate results last month. He could also have stayed in the amateur ranks, where another national title, and potentially qualification for the Los Angeles Olympics, remained possibilities.

But the professional route was the one he wanted.

“Conan has two options,” Robert says. “He’s been in the national finals four years in a row. Does he stay, chasing the dream of winning another national title, which he would get if he stayed at it, and there’s Olympics and so on.

“But since he did that show in Stranorlar, he’s had the taste for [the professional ranks]. He told me after that it’s what he wants to do.

“He knows what he wants to do, and it’s turn pro, and I fully support him.”

Kearney fights at 66kg and has collected 13 Ulster titles since he was a Boy 1. His national title came in 2021, but the national championships have also provided one of the more persistent storylines of his amateur career.

For four years Kearney has reached the national final and faced the same opponent, Edward ‘Neddy’ Harty from Portlaoise. Harty is now a European Junior champion.

Kearney lost all four finals to his rival on split decisions, results which have inevitably remained a source of debate given the subjective nature of judging in amateur boxing.

“I thought he was very unlucky in some of those,” Robert says. “Definitely should have won two of them, lost one with the other 50/50.

“Neddy is a very good boxer, but Conan is equally as capable and those results are just the way they were.”

Away from the national championships, Kearney has built an increasingly international record.

He won the William Wallace International Box Cup in Scotland and the Halloween International Box Cup in Belfast three times. Through Bridges Beyond Boxing, he has boxed in the United States, including Cincinnati and Detroit.

He won the Target Box Cup in Cyprus last year and travelled to Italy earlier this year to face the Italian national champion, with that contest ending in a draw. In Germany, he defeated the German national champion.

He has also shared a ring with the American team captain Christian Geck of Detroit, an elite fighter who is expected to follow his brother Gavin into the professional ranks. That bout, which Kearney won, came on a return Bridges Beyond Boxing show at the Ballyliffin Lodge.

His age means Kearney has never competed at elite (senior) level himself, but the experience of sparring with senior fighters has been part of his development.

So too has been his willingness to change. An orthodox boxer by nature, he has been working extensively on his southpaw stance. The ability to switch during a fight gives him another dimension and, potentially, an opponent another problem to solve. It is one more development in a career that has been built on repetition and hard work.

Robert has seen that progression from the beginning. “He just kept going and made himself good,” he says.

There is also a reason his father believes the longer format professional fights may suit him. “Many observers have said that they think Conan will be more suited to the pro game,” Robert says. “The longer fights will suit him.

“He’s been a great amateur, and used to fighting twice or three times a weekend, and he gets stronger as a fight wears on.”

Behind his competition record is a level of preparation that extends well beyond the gym.

Since Kearney began competing, his mother Michelle has played a major role in managing his nutrition. Robert may be the coach, but he credits Michelle with doing much of the work required to keep Kearney fuelled and at the right weight.

“Since Conan started competition boxing, his mother Michelle has done massive work too and is his nutritionist.

“I may have taught him to box, but she’s done unreal work on nutrition and diet.”

The process is precise. His meals are weighed and recorded, with breakfast, lunch and dinner all monitored.

“Michelle does all that - I don’t know how she has the patience for it,” Robert says. “She monitors his weight, and is able to cut wee bits and pieces out of his diet to help him make weight.”

Away from preparation, however, his tastes are less regimented. He enjoys a good breakfast when he is not preparing for a fight and loves pizza, although those are rare treats.

Kearney will be the first Donegal boxer to use John Hutchinson’s new Donegal Den in Phuket as a training camp, something Robert believes could become significant in the years ahead. “I think the Donegal Den is going to be huge in the years to come, and Conan will be the first Donegal man to go out for a training camp there - so it’ll be a bit of history.”

And there is no immediate rush back to Ireland. Hutchinson intends to arrange another fight or two for Kearney before Christmas.

Robert will be in Thailand for the professional debut, just as he has been for virtually the entirety of his son’s amateur career. Of Kearney’s 65 fights, he has missed only one - when his younger son Caolan, now 13, was boxing elsewhere on the same night.

“I’m going out to Thailand the week beforehand, and staying for a few days after. I’d love to stay out for two or three weeks, but I can’t because we fish for a living and October’s a very busy month.

“We’re hosting the Peter O’Donnell Box Cup in Clonmany in the middle of October so I need to be back for that too.”

The move into professional boxing has also required support outside the ring.

Donegal Services of Chicago is Kearney’s main sponsor, while Paddy’s Powerful Bottle and JDR Civil Engineering are also backing him. Ballyliffin Lodge has supplied boxing gear, with a number of other local sponsors providing support as Kearney begins the next stage of his career.

Hutchinson’s Donegal Den will become Kearney’s base in Thailand, with the first professional fight scheduled for 10 October and broadcast on the DAZN streaming service.

For St Bridget’s, meanwhile, the transition marks the latest stage in the development of a boxer who first walked through the club doors as a five-year-old.