Michael Marrone proved to have little to stop Gorey heavyweight Niall Kennedy in Boston on St Patrick's weekend. So what next for the Wexford man? The Season Ticket caught up with Kennedy.
Brian Strahan: How do you feel after the win?
Niall Kennedy: Pretty good. It turned out to be an easy enough night, but that said, only finding out who the opponent was the day before makes you anxious. But thank God all went OK.
BS: Did you still get time to do your homework on Michael Marrone?
NK: No, I didn't. I had a glimpse of his record and took from it what I could. He had a good knockout ratio, but was coming in off the back of early stoppages losses, so I believed getting to him early was important. Saying that, he nearly took head of my shoulders early on; a silly big shot to get caught with, but that's boxing.
BS: What's next?
NK: Not sure yet. I hope to get a big fight in the summer to push me into the top 20 in the world and a massive opportunity by end of 2019. But right now, I just get back in the gym and try to work hard to make the dream come true and make my little man proud.
BS: Are there potential opponents you have in mind?
NK: Yes, I do. The Darmani Rock fight is still an opponent I'd like to fight as I'd trained for 7 weeks to fight him and believe he is a top level opponent. But, if you look at the rankings anyone above me right now is a target; if I am ever to reach my target
BS: How high do you think you can climb?
NK: I believe I will break into the top 15 in the world by the end of 2019, and I believe Murphy's Boxing will get me the opportunities to do so.
BS: You have been tweeting about your workout and trying to improve everything. Is it necessary to keep asking questions of yourself regardless of how well things are going?
NK: Yeah, of course. If I felt I couldn't improve I'd pack it in because I'd have reached my limit. But I pray with hard work and lots of listening, I'll improve everything. Once I have reached my limit I know I'll be able to walk away, happy knowing I've given it my all; but we are nowhere near that yet.