Rossport Two all set to fight
Daniel Carey
A SENSE of place has always been important in boxing. Muhammad Ali was the Louisville Lip. Jack Dempsey was the Manassa Mauler. Barry McGuigan was the Clones Cyclone. Rossport may have become famous because of the controversial Shell pipeline, but two brothers from the north Mayo village are hoping to soon make headlines of their own. Next Saturday, July 14, shortly before John Duddy steps into the National Stadium, Declan Timlin will don his gloves for his fourth professional fight, his first in Ireland. He follows in the footsteps of his younger sibling John, out-pointed Roland Horvath from Hungary in a four-round contest at The Point Depot in June.
There’s an additional Rossport connection to the story. Their trainer Seán Mannion hails from Rosmuc, but his mother is a native of the Erris townland. It’s 23 years since the Connemara man fought Mike McCallum for the WBA junior middleweight title, and seven years since he returned to his native shore. He was approached by a friend of the brothers and took them on as his first professional fighters. He has since got calls from three others with aspirations of turning professional, including Castlebar light-heavyweight Keith Cresham.
“Things are going great,” Mannion told The Mayo News. “Actually, if I was young enough, I’d be in the ring myself! But I know I’m too old for that, so this is the next best thing. The two lads are very nice guys, I get on great with them. They’re both good fighters, good athletes and good individuals.”
The brothers spent 10 years in America, training at the world-famous Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn, where they sparred with world champions. Declan Timlin, ‘a great puncher’ according to Mannion, is reputed to floored a Russian who is now a title-holder.
If everything goes according to plan, John Timlin will be back in the ring on July 28. Last month’s win over Horvath was, to all intents and purposes, his first professional fight – Mannion has seen the tape of his one bout in New York, which ended in him being head-butted, and considers it a no contest. His Irish debut, part of the undercard for Bernard Dunne’s recent success, proved less controversial.
“John went in there and boxed beautifully in the first two rounds,” the trainer recalls “He got a little tired in the fourth round, but he won the four rounds on the referee’s card. The jab was coming nice. The next fight will be a little bit tougher, but he’ll be in better shape and he’ll have more experience now that he has the first fight over.”
Mannion is content with the small table of fighters he has assembled – his only problem is finding suitable accommodation. Like many of their counterparts, Rosmuc Boxing Club is based in a community centre, though they are in the process of developing a purpose-built gym. In the meantime, they’ve been operating out of the Olympic Boxing Club gym in Galway (‘As good as anything that’s around’, according to Mannion) and taken weekend trips to The Mall in Castlebar.
“It’s good to be around the professional game,” he says. “We’re working with a great promoter, Brian Peters from Dublin. He runs the shows in Ireland now. He loves boxing and we work great together. We’re all set.”
As the song says, Saturday night’s all right for fighting.
