Sheehan ready to target the hot shots

CON SHEEHAN is ready to take his place among the best amateur heavyweights in the world and the Clonmel teenager can’t wait to see who the USA will put in front him at the National Stadium on Friday night.

Last year Sheehan became the youngest national senior heavyweight champion ever when winning the title at 18 and giving seven times champion, Alan Reynolds, almost 18 years when he successfully defended last Friday night.

Some people might have felt that the wily Sligo man would have too much experience but neither Sheehan nor his coach, Martin Fennessy, had any doubts: “I knew he won the title seven times before and in terms of experience the odds appeared to be stacked against me,” Sheehan admitted. “But, don’t forget, I have a lot of experience at international level — I have been in the trenches before — and I know how to deal with those situations.

“It would not be disrespectful of Alan — he was great in the past but boxing has moved on since he gave it up. I have been training full time with the high performance team and I have learned a lot.

“I am boxing the best guys in the world — I am sparring with Kenny Egan and Darren O’Neill day in and day out and Darren Sutherland before he turned pro and I have sparred world champions at the training camps.

He reflected on a time when it appeared as if he would not be in a position to defend his title. He suffered damage to a knuckle in his right hand at the European championships in Liverpool and could not punch for 10 weeks afterwards.

“If it was not for Johnson McEvoy and his assistants in Limerick I don’t think I would have been here at all,” he said. “I was told that I would need surgery but they went to work on it and they did a great job.

“Now the world championships in Milan in September are the big target. I was very unlucky not to win a medal in the European championships.”

His coach, Martin Fennessy, insisted that Sheehan was the best heavyweight prospect in years if not the best ever.

“At 19 he is some prospect as a heavyweight when you take into account that heavyweights don’t mature until about 25. He is a real prospect for London 2012,” he said.

“He can box like a middleweight — he has a boxing brain — but he will fill out more. He is 6’5” so he is a huge heavyweight.

“Billy Walsh and the coaches in the High Performance Unit are bringing him along nicely. Having said that, he is a very easy lad to coach. He is there half an hour before training every night and he is always the last one to leave.

“He is very dedicated — he comes from a good family and he is well educated — he put everything aside to train full time for boxing.

“I was at the Olympic Games in Beijing last summer and I have to admit that I did not see too many fellows out there who were better than him even at this stage in his career.”

Billy Walsh, the Head Coach at High Performance, said the Americans are bringing in a bright young heavyweight — 6’3” — for next weekend’s back-to-back internationals in Dublin and Athy.

“They are bringing in a full complement so all the national champions will be in action,” he said. “Eric Donovan will box in Athy so Ross Hickey will take on their lightweight at the National Stadium.”