Clancy follows in footsteps of Mannion with world title bid

Oughterard native Gearoid Clancy will take to the ring around 10.30am Irish time this Saturday to box New Zealand’s Nort Beauchamp for the vacant WBF lightweight title.

The last Connemara man to contest a world title fight was Sean Mannion, who fought Mike McCallum in October 1984 for the WBA Junior Light Middleweight belt, going the full 15 rounds only to lose the fight on a unanimous points decision to a man who went on to successfully defend the title six times, all by way of knockout.

Mannion inspired a young generation of boxers from the area, and while Clancy was only one-month old at that time, he would have heard stories about the ‘Rosmuc Rocky’ when growing up.

Clancy is very aware of Sean Mannion’s boxing career and his name was always to the forefront of what he did as Clancy comes from a proud boxing household. There were very few Irish boxing heros back then, and paper clippings and posters of Mannion were in pride of place in the Oughterard boxing clubhouse.

He has met Mannion on many occasions throughout his amateur career and in his first pro fight honoured the Rosmuc native by wearing the identical dark green velvet shorts Mannion wore in his title fight.

His opponent on Saturday is ranked number 1 lightweight in New Zealand brings a record of nine wins and one loss into the fight; while Clancy carries a 5-and-3 record into the fight, having recently lost his 10-round challenge bout for the IBF Oceania LightweigthTitle.

Clancy feels he learnt a lot from that fight and has tweeked a few things in camp in regards to his preparation. Nort is a southpaw but Clancy is lucky to have fellow country man TJ Doheny, who is also a southpaw, to spar in training. For Clancy he sees his challenge for the title as another step up and is hopeful that the prep work has gone well.