By Jonathan Brown
Donagh Keary says he “can’t wait” to get back in the ring on Saturday night as he looks to right the wrongs of September’s shock Windsor Park defeat to Caine Singh. Keary will fight 39-year-old Steve ‘Livewire’ Maguire on the undercard of the Conlan Sport and Hammer Boxing ‘Bragging Rights’ show at The Devenish Complex, Belfast, his first bout since the September 13th points-decision defeat to Middlesbrough-based fighter Singh.
The Castlewellan native only took a week out of training after suffering his first loss since turning pro in November 2024 and was eager to get the gloves back on again as soon as possible. “I knew if I didn’t fight again soon my head would be wrecked. I was raging (with the defeat to Singh), but you get over it. Life could be worse – it’s only a fight. After a few more wins, it’ll be forgotten about and in the past,” Keary explained.
The most important lesson the 21-year-old took from the fight was pacing. Keary believes he went for the kill against Singh too early. “I knew it would be a hard fight – in a four-rounder, if you lose a round, you’re beat. I went out and started landing (shots) clean early on and tried to take Singh out, and I wrecked myself. When I got back to the changing room afterwards, I was completely zapped of energy. I’ve never been like that before.”
He also received some words of wisdom from boxing great Carl Frampton, an idol of Keary’s when he was growing up, who was in attendance at Windsor Park. “I was talking to Frampton afterwards, and he told me that lots of boxers have been beaten early in their careers, and then named off a load of names. It was good to hear that from someone like him.”
In the full article, Donagh goes on to explain how he plans to approach this fight differently.
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