Dublin boxer Pierce O'Leary targets world title shot and 3Arena homecoming fight
Pierce O'Leary after his victory over Liam Dillon at Portman Road(Image: Richard Pelham/Getty Images)As Troy Parrott sets his sights on propelling Ireland to the World Cup next year, his former schoolmate Pierce O'Leary is aiming for world champion status.'Big Bang' returns to the ring this Saturday night, headlining a show for the first time in his career. He's set to face off against Argentinian southpaw Braian Esequiel Ronner (5-5-1) in Nottingham.O'Leary, a proud native of Dublin's north inner city, follows in the footsteps of fellow sports stars from the area like Parrott, Kellie Harrington, Emmet Brennan, John Giles and Wes Hoolahan. So what's the secret behind this community's knack for producing such exceptional talent?"Street football, street boxing, it's all raw talent," O'Leary told the Irish Mirror. "You can't produce it. I'm hoping it's not a dying phase.""But, please God, it's not. That's where we learned it all, on the streets and here we are now today."Obviously sport has saved many, many people and going forward, it's going to save so many more. But, the opportunities that sport has given us and being able to put where we're from on the map, it's priceless."Both O'Leary and Parrott attended O'Connell School, just a stone's throw away from Croke Park."I went to school with Troy, he was two years below me. I had a few football shots with him alright," O'Leary chuckles. "We went to the same school, grew up together. He was no different than any other kid."Like the rest of the country and beyond, O'Leary was thrilled by Parrott's stellar performances against Portugal and Hungary last month. The 23-year-old's third goal against the Hungarians in the 96th minute ignited celebrations in homes across Ireland and globally, demonstrating the immense passion Irish people hold for sport.Troy Parrott celebrates scoring his third goal against Hungary(Image: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne)"The last goal... how back home went... it was crazy, absolutely nuts, but it's good," O'Leary said. "People have been blown away by it, but for us, it's just normal. The talent is just normal because we see it every day. We grew up around it."Irish sport is booming. It doesn't matter whether you're a runner or a footballer, playing Gaelic or rugby, they've got the crowds behind them. They're just waiting for Big Bang at the 3Arena."And that's precisely what tops O'Leary's wish list for 2026 - a fight at the 3Arena, a venue merely 200 metres from where the undefeated 17-0 fighter was raised. As a youngster, both before and after school, the now 25-year-old would jog past the arena dreaming of one day fighting within its walls.Now that dream is "within touching distance", with plans underway for O'Leary to headline an event at the venue around St Patrick's Day next year. And he is confident he can continue to headline shows at the arena that the likes of Katie Taylor, Michael Conlan and Bernard Dunne have all fought at for many years to come.However, he must first overcome his Argentine opponent this weekend in an eight-round welterweight contest. The bout comes six months after he won the EBU European Super Lightweight belt at Ipswich FC's Portman Road, a title which he has since vacated.Pierce O'Leary punches Liam Dillon(Image: Richard Pelham/Getty Images)"At this moment in time, it's Saturday night. Get through this, all the guns blazing, nice little rest. Then into camp. That (St Patrick's weekend) is the target date that we're going to aim for," O'Leary said."For me, fighting there goes beyond a world title fight. It is bigger than a world title fight. I know for a fact that if we crack it in Dublin. Dublin's my home. We won't be fighting abroad no more, we'll be going there."If it's a commercial success, which I think it is going to be, that's it then. Irish boxing is back and I'm the man to bring it back, especially in Dublin."O'Leary attended the 3Arena for Taylor's two battles with Chantelle Cameron in 2023, along with Callum Walsh's homecoming the following September, but chose not to attend Conlan's bout at the venue earlier this year. He said: "I didn't go to Mick's because the last three fights, when I was there, I was getting hounded: 'Why are you not there? When are you fighting here?'."So I just took a step back and watched Mick's fight on TV. I've always had that visualisation from a young kid going around and obviously making weight as a kid. Running around, doing road work before school or at 10 o'clock at night."I always ran around by the arena and I always visualised it. I said 'I'm going to be fighting there one day'. And even when I was just sitting there watching the fights, like the Katie fights, I never had any doubt that it wasn't going to happen."O'Leary trains under the guidance of respected Liverpool coach Joe McNally and conducts his fight preparation on Merseyside. For his homecoming bout, however, he'll be dividing his training camp between Liverpool and Dublin."It was Joe's idea, he wanted to do it," O'Leary explained. "I think we're going to do four or five weeks in Liverpool and then we're going to do the rest of the camp back in Dublin."We're going to do public workouts and meetups, public events in the gym, public sessions and just get the crowd going and build up. I thought it would have been a bit of a distraction but he said it's key for me to go and do that and to be back at home."Following his previous fight, O'Leary has teamed up with Brian Peters, Taylor's manager, and reports having experienced his finest training camp to date ahead of Saturday's bout."It's the best camp I've ever had with no stress," O'Leary said. "He (Peters) just took all the stress away from me and said 'just focus on boxing, that's all you've got to do, leave everything to me'. And that's all I've done."O'Leary had been scheduled to compete on the undercard of Derek Chisora's 50th professional fight next weekend in Manchester, but the event collapsed. Keen to secure a fight before Christmas, O'Leary agreed to tonight's contest on just two weeks' notice, giving Peters credit for organising it."I rang him up and asked 'Am I fighting or what?' He said 'you're fighting 100%'. I didn't know, my coach didn't know. No one knew," O'Leary laughed. "I'm saying to myself: 'Is he winding me up? Where is this getting pulled out from? Am I going to fight in a back garden?'"."Obviously he got it sorted so credit to him. I also had some nice food with him and Katie and it was very good. Even just having a conversation with her at dinner and not only just speaking about boxing but speaking about life as well, the conversation that we had was very entertaining."Just take away boxing, as she is as a person, she's tremendous. She's got some character to her and has some achievements."So what's the plan for Saturday night?"I'm just gonna go out, put on a great boxing performance and hopefully get some rounds in," said O'Leary. "Work on certain stuff we've been working on in the gym, make sure it works for the next fight and that's it. If the stoppage comes, it comes, but we won't be going looking for it. We're just going to go out and perform."Join our Dublin Live breaking news service on WhatsApp. Click this link to receive your daily dose of Dublin Live content.We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice .For all the latest news from Dublin and surrounding areas visit our homepage.
