Getting to know...John Donnelly by James Howard Mar 19th 2008

With Sky Sports having showcased his sizzling potential the evening before, Liverpool's undefeated prospect John Donnelly was in positive mood when he spoke with BBN's James Howard. Having comprehensively defeated the admirably resolute Tony McQuade, the Scouser was pleased with his endeavours. “Last night was great, he was a tough customer though. I'll give him all credit where it's due - he was fit, busy, and he was strong. He came at me with everything he had really.” Outpointing the Peterborough man over six rounds brought Donnelly's impressive slate to 6-0, a record abruptly whipped up in a mere ten months. A short break is scheduled for the Easter period, before continuing the slog. “What my manager Tommy Gilmour and my trainer George Schofield have told me to do is to have Easter off and freshen up a little bit, and then get back in the gym after Easter. There is no date set for when I will be fighting but hopefully I can be out again in the next eight weeks.” The Liverpool fan began his boxing journey at ten years of age, finding his way into the tutelage of Wayne Rooney's Uncle Richie. “I was ten years of age when I started boxing. I started boxing for Richie Rooney's gym, that's Wayne Rooney's uncle, and he trained me all through my amateur career. I was always knocking on the door as an amateur, I got beat in the ABA finals by Matthew Marsh and I went on to win a Four Nations gold medal before deciding to turn pro. “My first boxing memory was sparring in the gym, and before that it was watching the older boy's spar in the gym when I was young. I always had the ambition while looking at them; I was thinking 'This is what I want to do'. “In the amateurs I was always looking up to Paul Smith, I also watched a lot of Richie Rooney when he was going - he was in our gym. I would watch him and I would see where I want to go.” Donnelly thinks his time in the amateur game allowed him to consolidate his skills and has proved beneficial to his boxing armoury. “I have got the pedigree coming up through the amateurs, I know I can box and I know I can fight. I would say my biggest strength is my fitness, I'm boxing six rounds now but I know I could box twelve without a shadow of a doubt.” Ongoing rivalries with Stephen Smith have provided the toughest fights to date for the genial bantamweight. “My toughest opponent in the amateurs was Stephen Smith, we fought on three occasions. We always avoided each other and when we did clash - we had wars! We boxed each other in the National Box-offs with the top four from every rank competing, and we fought to determine who the number one was basically. He beat me in that, and we fought in the ABA's, and he beat me as a schoolboy also.” John is pleased to be part of Shamrock's Gym, with his coaches, and with how his career has gone since fighting in a professional capacity. “I have two coaches, Georgie Schofield and former WBU champion Shea Neary. Every thing is brilliant, I wasn't signed before I came to the gym, I came to the gym with the inspiration of turning professional. Georgie Schofield and Shea Neary sat down and discussed it and we decided that Tommy Gilmour would be the best person to go with. He promised a certain amount of fights, eight it was, and I have had six already so he could get me even more to be honest. “I train in Shea Neary's gym, the Shamrock Gym in Old Swan, Liverpool. When I am getting ready for a fight I train six days a week and we have Sunday's off. We run every morning, as early as possible, and then we train every day from half two. “The training in the professional game is a lot harder, there is no cutting corner's and I enjoy the training a lot more. Not only that, I enjoy the rewards from the professional game but I do it for the love of it to be honest. I'd say nights like last night, where you're on Sky Sports shows on television, rewards like that are the most positive things to come out of it.” Rating the road work and sparring and sparring as the areas of training he most enjoys, unless the sparring is with Shea Neary. “(The worst part of training is) sparring with Shea Neary [laughing]. I have learnt a lot from him, being a former world champion although he's retired now, and the man is still a legend in my eyes. We spar, he pushes me back and I push him back, but you can learn all the tricks in the trade sparring with people like him.” Naming Joe Calzaghe as the best British fighter and reluctantly naming Floyd Mayweather as the best pound for pound fighter in the world, the 23-year-old's best memory in the sport was making his first professional appearance in his home city. “My best memory so far was my first home fight in Liverpool. It was the 1st December in the Olympia - I had over 200 fans there. “I boxed in the Olympia, that's a great venue, but there is a new venue is Liverpool called the Liverpool Echo Arena, and Ill be looking forward to boxing at that some time this year.” Donnelly's goals are centred on his own ambition so there is no desire to fight one particular fighter, rather a patient acknowledgement that a precocious talent should be nurtured and not rushed. “I haven't got a goal to beat a certain person; all I want to do is take it fight by fight, step by step. I'm not getting ahead of myself but I know I have the talent and the capabilities with my fitness and the coaching staff, to go all the way to a British, European and maybe even a world title. “My goal is basically to get as far as I can. I am setting my goal as a British title, but when I do get that opportunity, maybe I'll get the chance to box for the European or the world title. A joiner in his spare time, John is not a man to slacken easily. “To relax I socialise with friends but to be honest, if I'm not in the gym I don't know what I am doing. I live in the gym so if I'm not there, I'd probably get back to work as a joiner. I take three weeks off work before a fight. The current trend of fighting boxers that outsize him doesn't concern the calm Liverpudlian who looks at the situation philosophically. “I'm a natural bantamweight, I can do 8st 6 easy, but at the minute there aren't many bantams around who will box me. I'm boxing super-bantams because there are a few more of them about. When the time comes around for a title, I know I'll be back down at bantam. But for now, the heavier people are keeping me busy!”

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